Beyond the Road's End
by umbreonix
Summary: Fresh out college, and with a passion for everything botanical, Rio Gold feels confident she can take on the farm left in her family's name. Of course, life's never as simple as what you'd expect. Then fate seems to be playing a cruel game with her, bringing in a familiar face in the form animal dealer that clearly hates her guts- and admittedly has many reasons to...
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to another Rio Neil story! Honestly I don't know how many more I have in me so I want to make this one great! This means I'll take more time to plan it out and not resort to cheap gags when I'm stuck. This story'll be a little different. First, look at the top left corner right beside my umbreon icon. That's right, rated T. My other stories are rated in the Ks. Interpret what you will. I want to put more Allen in this story too, since he's just so interesting but I tend to not write him- there's been so many interesting Allen fics out recently so I feel inspired. In honesty it's 100% his fault this is a T rated fic. I just don't think I can capture his essence otherwise and since the story is now T I'll be taking some liberties. (All this forewarning but I don't really have the guts to write anything too juicy- you guys will find it tame) They'll be the occasional joke in here because I won't be able to help myself but overall, this isn't a humor story like the others.**

**Also Neil's going to be showing a lot more tsun before you see any dere. I'm looking forward to writing this! It's going to be more challenging for me since there isn't this large extravagant subplot to make it interesting. We'll see how this goes! Thanks in advance for reading!**

**-Umbreonix**

**(And sorry for pulling you through this _long_ prologue. I hate reading prologues so I sympathize. )**

* * *

One last deep breath in.

She closed her eyes with a blissful smile, taking in the aroma of the campus greenhouse, the place that had become like a second home to her over the past couple years. Overgrown with both local and exotic flowers, the house's glass rooms brought forth a diverse amount of scents that nearly overwhelmed the senses.

The smell however, was not what shocked most first time visitors. Her eyelids reopened and the vivid sight of greenery filled her vision, still managing to take her breath away. There were some sights that she knew would stay with her forever, in this case it was the way the sun lit up every corner of the vast building, peeking through the untameable ivy that crawled up the crystalline walls that was simply enchanting.

It was the first time she ever truly understood the phrase "bitter sweet". Today was the day that everything ended, and everything began. Today was the day of her graduation, the ceremony was already over and many tears had been shed but the finality was really only sinking in now as she made her very last rounds through the green isles.

"Rio." A voice said, breaking her from her trance and in her surprise she tripped on her own feet, landing backwards on the hard, brick floor.

_Smooth_ She winced, more from the embarrassment than the pain and looked over to the house's entrance where her friend Chelsea watched her anxiously. "I'm fine." She said and Chelsea sighed before giving her a good natured smirk and walking over to help her up. "Goodness your highness!" She said in a tone of fake dismay, "What would your loyal subjects say if they ever saw what a klutz you actually are?"

The girl named Rio groaned, "Please, just stop calling me that. We've graduated, can we graduate from that nonsense too?"

Chelsea gave her a half smile and extended her hand. "Sorry, you'll never be able to escape it but at least you've got a cool title." She grimaced, "they call me the Mage of Vegetables."

Rio took the hand and allowed herself to be hoisted up "Doesn't it suit you?" She asked.

"Mages are cool and all but I couldn't have been a princess, or even a maiden? _Something _gender specific? It would be nice if they could acknowledge me as a girl, you know?" She flicked at a loose strand of her brown hair, tossing it back with the rest behind her shoulder distastefully, "I'm not a complete tomboy, I like to be girly sometimes too." She pouted and then turned to Rio accusingly, "Meanwhile you have everyone fooled that you are this dainty and elegant noblewoman."

"I don't know where they got that idea from." Rio protested.

"Honesty, until Claire graduated and you inherited the Queen's position they called you 'Fairy of the Gardens', so unfair!"

The blonde shrugged, looking down at her feet. Chelsea _knew_ how much she hated being called that, yet she always had to bring it up.

Rio Gold was an honours agricultural student who had been attending H.M University, a college world renowned for being one of the finest schools for biology, medicine and agriculture. The degrees do not come easy and successful graduates exit as leading experts within their fields. Within the departments, there were a few students who were locally famous on campus. These small-time celebrities were known as their department's 'royals' and gained cast-based titles. This was all entirely unofficial of course, a quirky little university thing started by some students with a bit too much time on their hands. Within agriculture, Rio was the queen, a title past down each year to a promising fourth-year female although she herself mostly just tried to ignore this title with slight embarrassment.

Her fame came from quite a few factors. First, her aptitude for all things plant related and tendency to always rank in the top spot for midterms and exams in the courses dealing with this material. Second was her responsibility as the student caretaker of the greenhouse- probably the first undergraduate to be given this position, and, last of all was the fact that in technicalities, she was a real life heiress though what she was inheriting wasn't wealth. In her family's name was a beautiful, nearly five ache farmland property. To some this was not much, but it definitely made her the envy of her classmates. It's unfortunate, but not everyone is given the same opportunities and as far as the agricultural society was concerned, she had it made, the Paris Hilton of farming.

Chelsea reached up to adjust her trade mark red bandanna agitatedly, only to of course find it missing, it didn't go with a graduation dress. Despite her resentment towards it, her title fit her pretty well. She was in a very specific strain of bioengineering with a focus solely in crops. A title like princess or such wouldn't suit the energetic and outspoken women. She was also the most approachable of the royals- though in actuality the title was inspired through the way she had been studying ways to tweak plant genes to improve crops. She was actually two years older than Rio but graduating the same time on a six year degree. Rio had responded to her kijiji ad in her first year looking for a roommate and they'd lived together and been inseparable since.

"Anyway I figured you'd be here, I was just stopping by to see if you were coming to the party tonight?" Chelsea asked this rather hopefully but she rarely succeeded in dragging her best friend into the social scenes.

Rio shook her head, "Sorry, I'm actually moving straight to the farm this evening. I can't miss the bus."

"That's too bad." Chelsea sighed. "Well I guess this is it then."

"Yeah." Rio agreed quietly.

In an instant Chelsea burst into tears glomping onto the girl, "Aww my little Rio! How are you even going to manage without me?!"

Rio awkwardly pat her back with a crooked smile, "Don't worry, I'm an adult now."

"You're only 21 you little fetus!" She bawled.

Rio chuckled slightly and pried the crying upper year from her, gripping her shoulders. "I'll be fine. Also this is NOT goodbye." She said firmly.

"I know." Chelsea admitted and then glanced around at the greenhouse, wanting to prolong their final moments. "It really is pretty here."

A feeling of pride like that of a mother's over a child welled up in Rio. "It really is."

"…I'm probably going to go talk to some more people before they disappear. Are you heading out now?" Asked Chelsea.

"Um, no. I just need a little longer… to say my last goodbyes to this place you know?" Rio gave a sad smile and Chelsea nodded.

"Alright, sorry to interrupt your alone time. See ya?"

"See ya." Rio nodded and the brunette left, not before giving one last fleeting smile over her shoulder and Rio returned it.

She looked back to the aisles with a sigh. Goddess knew how much she would miss this place, but she tried to set those thoughts aside and instead enjoy these last moments- but in the end all she could think about was how much she'd miss the way the air stood still and time itself felt like it froze, the way the rooms smelt after the sprinkler system made its rounds and of course each and every individual specimen that she help raise with utmost care.

It was hard to believe that by tonight she'd already be settled into her new life and this might all just feel like a distant dream. Four years went by way too fast. A mute panic had begun to fill her chest, she just didn't feel like she was ready for "the rest of her life".

It felt more like a death sentence than a hopeful beginning. Your whole life, everything is in stages, everything is temporary, elementary school, summer camps, high school and college. Then suddenly there's just the great beyond, the point where you are shot out with no safety net into the big wide world, like exile from Eden. That critical point where the decisions you make completely shape the rest of your life.

Her friends scoffed at her anxiety though. At least she had the rest of her life neatly lined up for her on the farm, which had just been waiting for her to finish her degree and claim it.

Others have to search for positions in their fields, there were upper years above her still on the job hunt years after their graduation.

She really didn't have anything to complain about she supposed, but she couldn't help but feel a great loss on that day. She finished her way around the green house and sighed, gently caressing a leaf of the mimosa, one of the plants she nurtured for the first year labs. As always, it contracted at the touch and she smiled sadly before finally heading out the door, locking up behind her.

She returned her keys to the biology department's main office and checked her watch, she still had time to visit one more important place before her bus came for her and at the perfect time too.

Just outside of campus, discreetly tucked behind the main plaza stood a small coffee shop. The atmosphere was relaxed yet sophisticated, the kind of place that the hipsters would rave about- if they had found it. She had come across it when she had been searching down a quiet place to study, Home wasn't always an option, not when Chelsea's engineer friends were over anyway- Goddess knows engineers can get rowdy with a couple of drinks in their hands. She had tried the libraries of course but really, there was no privacy for a 'royal' on campus, she could feel everyone's eyes on her all the time and hear the soft gossiping murmurs from beyond the book racks. That's when she started to seek places in less student oriented neighborhoods and found the café. It had soon become a special place to her for a couple reasons. First as an escape but a more prominent reason being one only she knew and was too embarrassed about to ever tell anyone.

If you asked anyone that seemed to _think_ they knew her, they'd tell you that she was a straight-laced, down to earth kind of girl. That infuriating student that always handles things with a mature and calm demeanor and studies to the point that she can recite the lectures and material by heart.

She was praised for her dedication, rarely making it out to parties and never getting involved with relationship drama. Everyone was fooled into thinking she was machine, or a 'queen'. So often her friends would come to her in the middle of the night with mascara running down their cheeks to tell her how smart she was not to get involved with relationships and men.

It wasn't smarts though. Even Rio had a guy she liked. A guy she had never even spoken to who appeared at the café every week day but Friday from six thirty to seven thirty.

She saw him for the first time during her first year, he sat at a small corner table for two, one leg crossed over the other casually, clad in thick black buckled military boots with baggy camouflage pants tucked in. He also wore a long punk-styled red coat with a fashionably-scraggly woven black shirt underneath and the whole ensemble had him looking like the type of rock star that girls from 12 to 22 fawn over. He was also that lean-short of muscular that was hard to tell from under his layers if not for the way his collar bones protruded from above the low neckline of his top, forming hard lines that could make a girl almost drool.

The most shocking part of him though was the sharp ruby-red eyes under his mop of blond hair. At first she couldn't believe they were real, they had to be contacts but over time she had to concede that his eyes were in fact, red. They were the most clear and beautiful things she had ever seen, she deeply regretted how she'd never have the opportunity to see them up close.

This being said, at first it was unsettling to her the way her eyes couldn't help but follow him. It was impossible for her not to continuously sneak peeks at him when he was around. He wasn't the kind of person she spent time with, or even knew how to talk to. Her people were the biologists, the agriculturalists who were quiet and happy to be spoken to although for the most part, retained a sort of meekness.

His very presence was loud, and he carried this terrifying aura of complete unapproachability. He was such an entity that she found it shocking the way the café's life just continued on around him normally. She seemed to be the only one in the shop that was ever so drawn into his personal gravity field.

At the very beginning, her interest was merely curiosity. She had a very adventurous imagination and liked to imagine who he could possibly be. She had never seen him on campus or anywhere else but he was definitely young enough to be a student, but if he was he was probably in a different department. Maybe he was in music, or criminology.

She came up with all sorts of back stories for the enigmatic blonde, each more wild than the last, it was a refreshing break from all the studying and it was a perfectly harmless pass time, or so she thought.

Though in her casual observations she began to notice little details over the years. Such as the time she saw him smile a little to himself when the person in the table in front of him was watching animal videos on youtube and she learned that he liked animals. Or the way he always drank his coffee black, the utter opposite of her who practically ordered a cup of sugar with some coffee. It was in her third year that she finally realized her mistake, she had fallen in love with him. Against all rationality she had fallen in love with someone she had never even met, and likely never would.

Maybe it was the way he was always on his own… she wondered if he was lonely. Then again, she was always by herself too- though arguably to be putting this much thought into a stranger maybe she was just a little lonely as well. In all likelihood, he did have a group of friends. People who talked to him every day, saw him laugh and make the expressions she'd never seemed to see him make. Maybe even a girlfriend…

Anyway, in present time-

She walked into the shop and froze in surprise, it had never been this crowded before. The room buzzed and the staff behind the counter frantically raced around to complete the orders in a timely manner. Commencement had brought a lot of people to town, and that must have led to the discovery of the café. Students sat in large groups of parents, siblings and relatives. She sighed, realizing that she would have to get her very last drink to go. Until she saw it. An empty chair, but then, on the other side of the table was _him_.

She ordered her usual, a coffee with three sugars and a chocolate toffee bar then hesitated before inhaling deeply and taking the plunge, making her way through the swarms of people and the pushed-out chairs.

"Hi." She said to him for the very first time. A weight was lifted off her shoulders, she'd finally done it! She's spoken to him! It was a shame he didn't hear her over the noise. She felt more awkward than she even had in her entire life, it had taken all of her strength and courage just to say that single word to him and she wasn't sure she could do it again, but having stopped next to him she felt committed. She squeezed her eyes shut before opening them and tapping his shoulder.

He turned to her, glaring with his brilliant red eyes, for a moment she was frozen, partly in mesmerisation, partly in fear as they bore deeper into her own.

"What?" He asked irritably.

She stepped back unconsciously, "Oh uh, the seat… I mean the store's crowded, I was hoping-" Her sentences were going nowhere so she stopped and restarted, "Do you mind if I sit there?" She pointed at the seat across for him. He grunted and returned his attention back to the paper. She looked at him blankly for a moment not comprehending that meant exactly.

He looked back at her impatiently, "yeah. Sit." He said curtly.

She jumped, "Oh, right. Yes, sorry." She turned quickly to take the seat, bumping into the table, she managed to stop the drink in her cup from spilling but his own splashed a little over his paper. "Sorry!" She said again, "so sorry." She sat down regretfully and bowed her head slightly to hide her red face. She should have just taken it to go after all.

He just looked at her for a moment, entirely unimpressed before again, ignoring her. She fiddled with the hem on the skirt of her graduation dress, pulling it down a little to try and cover her knees but it was no use, she hadn't realized how short it was until she had first sat in it today and it rose mid-thigh. It didn't really matter either way, no one could see her lap under the table but it was more a confidence thing.

She gave up on the skirt and returned her attention to the man across from her. Despite all of the humiliation she had endured, she still almost felt like she should attempt some sort of conversation, both as disaster recovery and for closure on her four-year crush. She couldn't though and just resigned herself to sip at her hot drink awkwardly.

"H-hi." Said another voice that was much too meek to be the man across from her. It was a guy standing behind her.

"Hello." She said politely, smiling gently to reassure him. She could empathize with his terrified expression, she had been there before, moments before.

The boy blushed and fumbled to readjust his glasses. "Ah- sorry, it's just, I've been in the same classes as you for four years but never really spoke to you or heard you speak before. It's kind of surreal you know?" He did look oddly familiar, so that's why. "Anyway, I just wanted to congratulate you on graduating. Although of course you would since you're even one of _them_-" He quickly covered.

"Thank you." She smiled, "You too."

"So you're going straight out to work now?" He asked.

"Pardon?" She tilted her head.

"I mean, you have a farm that you can go to now I hear." He replied.

"Oh, yes. In a place not far from here actually, Echo Village." She said.

He shook his head apologetically, "Sorry, I've never heard of it." They paused and he lifted his cup slightly, "Anyway, I have to get going, but it was nice finally meeting you."

"You too." She nodded and again she turned back to the table. If only her other encounter today went that well.

Ruby eyes were now watching her with a sliver of interest. "Echo Village." He said, surprising her.

"Yeah," She answered it's a village just down-"

"I know where it is." He interrupted apathetically, "But you should just give up. That place isn't going to be on the map much longer, it's a total dump too."

She felt a little angry at how he was addressing her new home. "Well I'm not just going to give up without trying, I just spent four years of my life getting the degree to run its farm."

"What a waste." He shrugged and she clenched her fists angrily.

"Well whether it's the farm or even the whole town, if something's broken I'll just have to fix it." She said in a mighty declaration.

He raised his chin a little and looked down at her angrily and a shiver ran up her spine from the sudden chill in the air. "Optimists are annoying." He said roughly, "Don't make promises you can't keep." After that he stood up, grabbed his things, and stalked out the door.

That entire encounter from start to finish could not have gone worse. There was this empty feeling eating away inside of her. She had spent four years pining over this man only to find out he had the worst personality of anyone she had ever met. On the other hand, and least now she could put this whole thing behind her- as cringingly embarrassed as she felt, it's not like she'd ever have to see him again. Right?

* * *

**Sure Rio… Sure I'll let you believe that for now.**

**Again I'm sorry for such a long prologue but it was important. Also I realize Rio's personality doesn't show through here but there is a very very good reason why- you'll see eventually. Now that I've actually thoroughly planned ahead for once I got to plant all sorts of stuff relevant for later chapters in. Its great! Why haven't I always done this?!**


	2. Chapter 2

The bus drove away, leaving her at the very end of the paved road. All there was around the drop off area was the lonely bus sign itself and an old, chipping wooden bench whose coat of paint had long since been weathered away. The bus schedule was posted on the sign but only read one time. This… was a new experience for her. She readjusted her cow-print stenson to block out the late afternoon sun and inhaled deeply.

From this point onwards she'd have to walk it. The road transitioned to gravel, then dirt which was kicked up as she rolled her luggage behind her. The path grew more and more untamed until she had to physically lift her case so it wouldn't keep snagging on rocks or tipping over onto its sides on the uneven ground. It was a good thing that she packed light.

Echo Village really was in the middle of nowhere, she had figured it would be slightly more modern considering its proximity to the built-up town around the university.

It was becoming almost eerie, night was surely going to fall soon and she was nowhere. She stopped to put down her stuff and pull the wrinkled map and her compass out of one of the twin satchels attached to the hips of her overalls. There only was one road into the village… and she was following it. It seemed like the further she went though, the further she was being led away from any sort of civilization. All she could hear now was the sound of frogs croaking in a nearby brook.

She re-folded the paper with a sigh, and continued on as the road became but a thin sliver of trampled dirt, well, more a trail than a road at this point. Although it seemed just wide enough that maybe it could accommodate a car. Maybe being the key word.

Ahead there was a figure off to the side and she frowned as she tried to determine was it was. It was long and dark but somehow just seemed a little unnatural amongst everything else.

There was a thunk that resounded through the silence as she stopped dead in her tracks and dropped her bags. It was a person!

She ran over, quick to kneel beside him. "Hey. Hey!" She said in a panic. There was no response from the old man and she involuntarily inched back, only to reluctantly reach for a stick.

_Poke. Poke_. Nothing, but she absolutely 100% would not even consider the possibility that she just happened to stumble upon a corpse. Nope, her life was by no means about to turn into a horror or murder mystery. Even if the set up was perfect- A handsome red eyed stranger, warning her not to come, A village separated from the rest of civilization- She shook her head. She had a weakness to this sort of thing.

_Poke!_

_Poke._

_Poke?_

The man stirred irritably, whacking at the branch. "Water." He croaked.

She sighed in relief, so maybe she _had _considered that possibility. She found the water bottle from her bag and handed it to him. The dehydrated man seemed to recover a little after a few gulps.

"Whoa." He shook his head, "thanks stranger, I guess I passed out in the heat, things really could have took a bad turn for me if you weren't around." He stroked his long and grizzled beard before glancing at her abandoned case behind her. "Oh! You must be Rio!"

She nodded dumbly.

"Excellent!" He clapped enthusiastically, "Everyone has been looking forward to your arrival. We're almost at the village, I'll show you the way!"

"Thank you." She said.

As they walked he explained that his name was Dunhill, a friend of her parents and the sort-of-unofficial mayor of the village.

"Well this is it!" He declared and she blinked. She hadn't even realized they were out of the wilderness. It wasn't that she hadn't been paying attention, there just was too many trees still, the grass was long and untamed like in a field and there weren't many clear walkways. Though a couple houses were indeed scattered between, perhaps enough to be a village? "Aww, don't make that look." Dunhill sighed, "It's not that bad."

"Oh sorry! I didn't realize I was making any expression- it's just…." She frowned.

"I'll admit the village isn't in its best state right now…" Dunhill agreed.

"How many people live here?" She asked, not really sure she wanted the answer.

"Five, including you."

She choked.

The doors of a small and quaint house opened up and two women came rushing over excitedly. The first was a shrunken old woman who smiled at Rio warmly, "Well, we've been expecting you for quite a long time! I know it's a little quiet here for a youngster such as yourself but I'm sure you'll quickly be feeling at home."

"Yeah." Rio said, still a little speechless at everything.

"Really," The other woman insisted, she was younger but still just old enough to be Rio's mother, "There is something about this village that anyone who comes falls in love with, you'll see it soon too if you give it a chance."

Rio smiled reassuringly upon realizing their panic, they probably thought she might be discouraged and turn away, "Believe me I have every intention still to run the farm, and anyway… quiet's refreshing."

The three people in front of her hunched a little in relief.

The younger of the two women perked, "Oh yes where are my manners? I'm Emma, I hope we can get along well because we'll be working very closely together! I handle any shipments you might have, be it stuff you foraged, or products from the farm."

The old woman nodded, "At first, just to hit the ground running you might want to try looking for things to ship in the forest and mountains, this area has a natural abundance of things you can ship for a few coins."

Rio shook her head up and down enthusiastically at the advice, "I'll try that out then."

"I am Hana," The woman told her, "I run the general store."

"Nice to meet you." The farmer smiled, "I figure you all know but for the sake of pleasantries- I'm Rio."

They all talked for a while and Dunhill eventually broke her off to show her the farm before it got too dark. "Didn't you say five people?" Rio suddenly asked.

"Pardon missy?" Asked the gangly mayor.

"Oh, I mean, you said that there were five people living here including myself." She explained.

"Right." He agreed, "The last is Neil but he's away right now, probably won't be back for a week. He's an animal dealer and around your age, I hope you two can get along." He said. She caught a strange look in his eye for just a moment, something that both looked a little hopeful, and at the same time pretty doubtful. "…He's a pretty sweet kid- after you peel back a couple, uh, dozen layers."

"Oh." She said in understanding.

Dunhill shook his head as if he could tell she misunderstood, "honestly, he's very dear to everyone here and we all know we're important to him, he's just not the best at showing this."

"Ok," Rio shrugged. They arrived at the farm and she did her best not to let her jaw completely drop. To say it was in a little disrepair would be an understatement. One could not even tell that this used to be farmland, it was all more like a forest. It could easily take a month or two just to clear the area for planting.

Dunhill frowned, "I know this is going to be a lot of work, but I have utter faith in you."

She only nodded again and gave everything another critical once over, imagining it without the trees. "There are terraces!" She remarked in delight, viewing some elevated land in the top right corner.

Dunhill probably wasn't expecting any enthusiasm at this stage but he happily accepted it, "Yup! Among many other useful features!" He pointed down in the other direction, "Down there you have a river bordering the bottom of your property that you are free to make use of, and after some clearing, you might be able to reach other parts of your farm with even more unique features!"

Rio entwined her fingers together. "This could work." She nodded, "I could still make this work!"

Dunhill beamed, "That's the spirit!" He checked his watch, "Well if you need anything and I mean anything at all you know where to find us!"

Rio nodded as he said his goodbyes and like that, she was alone. The house she'd be living in from this point onwards was just next to the entrance so she headed over and tried her key in the front door's lock, satisfied with the distinctive click as she turned it in the old brass knob.

The inside of the house was pretty simple, but had everything she needed although the furniture and appliances were a little- uh- very outdated. She almost felt like she was stepping into another time.

It was different than how she always thought it would be. She had unpacked the meager amount of belongings she had brought along and settled into the old bed, deciding that she might as well head off then to get a good jump start on the endless work needed to be done tomorrow.

Maybe she always was a bit of a scardy cat but there was something unsettling about this new feeling of being all alone, and it was only hitting her then as she lay in the dark on the musky mattress. On this giant rural property, there were no streetlights outside to illuminate the house. There was nothing but a large amount of land separating her from a near-ghost town, overgrown with trees to a point where she practically lived on her own in a forest. The house itself clearly hadn't been lived in for a very long time and lost any feeling of warmth or hospitality and she shivered.

The branches of the trees outside danced and caused large moving shadows across her floor. She stood up, feeling the cold wood under her feet and made a quick dash to the window, shutting the curtains. She knew they were just tree branches, she wasn't a child. Yet, she slowly crept back to her bed and pulled the covers over her face, awaiting sleep. This was only the beginning, she reminded herself, things would look up soon.

* * *

**Guess who's coming back to town next chapter? I'm so excited! :)**

**Thank you everyone for reading this far! It nice to see so many familiar (figurative) faces again (And new ones)**

**CrimsonCrush- Yup though maybe they aren't so different. The difference is your Neil has already warmed up to her. Eventually this Neil might reach there~ who knows it's all up to him. I'm glad so many people have immediately related to her I was trying to come up with a more realistic protagonist- Rp#6's was half-mad and this iridescent world's was too feminine, and of course the androphobia and ability to talk to animals...**

**Psycho Kay- Me too! I've already got twenty chapters planned out, the whole story start to finish. Though I'll probably add more chapters in as I get rolling**

**Miramontastic- You'll be happy to hear I just updated This Iridescent World the other day! Don't worry I didn't drop it. I'm just studying for my final exams so I haven't had a lot of time to write. (And then this story popped up while I was studying botany and I just had to write it down) Awww thank you for all your nice words! I also noticed you got an account so welcome to officially being part of fanfiction!**

**Peachie- Right?! I think everyone has been in that situation whether they'd admit it or not (The awkward how do I talk to this person? They didn't hear me what do I do...?) We readers in particular all seem to manifest this trait- though my friends seem to think I'm this person who can walk up to anyone. They have no idea how terrified I actually am most of the time O_O**

**CheetosPotato- Thank you so much! I decided to change up the way I wrote this a little bit, I was just afraid if I got too wordy it might turn people off. Yeah- not sure why your comment made me laugh but it did (Well, laugh internally anyway) . Obviously he's not going to be impressed when he finds out she's a "plant-y" person. If you wanna write, I say go for it! **


	3. Chapter 3

A week in, she had quickly gotten back her enthusiasm and begun to cultivate the wide fields. She started with clearing the trees near her house, then all of the ones on her terraces. They naturally were the best place to start with her crops, she had done all the prep work and had run all the tests and found that the soil was a better quality there, as expected. The land at ground level it seemed still hadn't fully revived from the heavy degradation of the ancient and out of date farming techniques her ancestors used.

The terraces naturally protected some of the earth though, preventing the run-off of water that lead to some of the heavy nutrient deficiencies and salinity. Still, it would take at least another week of back-breaking work to somewhat fix the soil below and adding clays before she could start planting it those areas- at least if she wanted quality crops that was.

It was when she had finished fertilizing her last plant from the highest terrace that she spotted something large entering her farm from the path into town. She squinted but quickly realized it was a cow.

In confusion she headed down, keeping her eye on it the whole time wearily. "Hey!" She called in alarm as it started to graze on her little herb garden at the house's side.

Of course it didn't stop or respond.

She reached the animal and tried to tug it away with an enormous amount of effort, heaving with all of her strength, knuckles white with her grasp on its collar. Unfortunately her muscles had already reached their limit for the day with all the clearing and even her best efforts didn't have much effect. Her arms too sore to even fully straighten, screamed in pain. Finally, the cow stepped away casually in the direction of her pull as if feeling sorry for her pathetic display and Rio breathed out a sigh of relief. She tentatively reached out to pet it but refrained when she realized she didn't really know where cows liked and didn't like to be touched. Also did they charge? Or was that just bulls?

She winced as it stepped forward and was appalled when it promptly gave her face a good, long wet lick.

"Gwah!" She stepped back in surprise and then noticed someone else who had shown up behind the cow during this exchange. She froze, bovine slobber forgotten. For whatever reason the last person she had ever thought she'd see again was staring back at her with the slightest hint of annoyance.

"You…" She said in wonder and slight mortification. "You're the-"

"Animal dealer." He responded with an unreadable expression.

"Ah." She said blankly. It was the boy from the coffee shop, standing in front of her with his hands in his pockets and an ever present sharpness in his eyes. There didn't seem to be any recognition though on his blank face and she prayed maybe he didn't remember her although it was highly unlikely for many reasons, the first being that she had even told him she'd be the village's new farmer.

"Anyway, name's Neil. Dunhill sent me here to bring you this cow." He glared at her, "Don't misunderstand, this is all his doing not mine."

"Ah." She said again, still speechless.

"Anyway, I'll just take her to the barn and show you the basics and then hopefully we can stay out of each other's hair." He began to lead the cow off but turned to the petrified blonde in exasperation. "Come on fish-face!"

"Fish face?" She finally asked in indignation.

"'Cause that's the face you're making right now." He said plainly.

"W-wait!" She raced to catch up to him. "I specialize in plants and crops. I can't take care of animals!"

"Of _course_ you do." He sighed. "Well what do you expect to do in the winter? Starve?"

"I can get by with the profits I made in the other seasons." She replied.

"But can the town?" He muttered.

"What?" She asked.

He turned back to her accusingly, an unreasonable amount of hatred in his burning eyes considering he barely knew her. "Didn't you say you were going to turn this town around?" She grimaced with the knowledge that he did remember her after all. At the same time she hadn't done much even back then to deserve this sort of hostility. Mostly she just embarrassed herself. "Well, the farm is supposed to be its main source of revenue." He explained.

She nodded, speechless after his sudden burst of anger. He led her to the barn and looked inside in disgust, "This is a mess." He said as if it was all her fault.

"Well of course!" She protested. "I didn't think it was my priority all things considered."

"I will not allow any animal I sell to live in conditions like this." He said.

"So you're going to take her back?" She asked making sure not to sound hopeful.

He walked inside and she followed as he grabbed a pitch fork, "What are you doing?!" She asked in alarm.

"Cleaning obviously." He grunted. "You do it too. It's _your_ job after all."

In her twenty or so years, Rio Gold never snapped. Of course when she was younger she occasionally had a few fits here and there as all children do but as she matured she became skilled at holding back any venom. So when she finally lost her patience there and then- she was not proud of it.

"Look!" She said in a tone entirely foreign to her. The animal dealer complied, looking back coolly. "Have I unknowingly done something to deserve all this? Have I clobbered baby seals in my sleep or something? 'Cause that's how you're treating me! Your attitude is totally out of line- and actually, I know it's not just to me! Dunhill warned me about you a week ago, he_ knew _you were going to be like this so I'm guessing this is your norm- but there's a little thing called professionalism and I suggest you look it up and get that stick out of your-" She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply finally catching herself. "I'm sorry." She apologized, "I really shouldn't be saying this to someone I'm going to be working with but stop sending me those accusing looks, I didn't know I'd be working with animals so of course I hadn't prepared."

He had just been watching her with an unreadable expression until this last part. "You think yourself quite the saint don't ya?" He asked coldly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips aggressively as her blood pressure began to rise again.

His eyes narrowed further and he gestured around and somehow she knew it was at more than the barn or even the farm, it was a gesture that encompassed the entire town, "You walk in here with this 'selfless' I-can-fix-everything and save-everyone attitude and it just makes me want to throw up."

"What's wrong with that?" She asked.

"You haven't even considered that all of this was the Gold family's fault in the first place!" The blood that had been feeling so hot under her skin just a moment ago froze. "Yeah, you really hadn't thought about that have you?"

"As I said, this town was built around the farm and dependant on it as its main money maker. At some point your family ran off to live the city life or something which was fine- we didn't need people half-assing it- but they could have at least sold the land to someone who would have kept it up! Instead they kept it under sentimentality or something and as it rotted away so did the village." He ranted on and she regretted that time way back in another life where she had actually yearned to hear his voice.

Fiery eyes set on her, "So don't _you_ come here and make everyone else feel sorry and embarrassed for the state our town is in!"

She didn't say a word, she simply walked over and picked up a second pitch fork and began to shovel away at the mixture of rotting hay and grime. He made his first grunt of approval and began to work as well. Guilt at his words churned from deep within her stomach. The things he said had her thinking… and he wasn't exactly wrong. A total jerk-yes, but not wrong.

Surprisingly, they were done within an hour although with neither of them talking it certainly felt longer, the cow was let in from outside to examine its new digs and the man closed his eyes, swiping at his bangs irritably, "So where were we?" He asked.

"What?" Asked Rio.

His eyes opened, "Right, I run a stall Mondays-Thursdays where I sell animals and all the things you need to take care of them." He frowned, "Actually before that- you need to give this cow a name."

She turned to the cow thoughtfully. "Quickly." He urged growing impatient.

"Spots." She blurted and then shook her head, "No- Lait."

"Lait?" He asked.

"Yeah like milk in French." She defended.

"Whatever." He shook his head, "Be sure to feed, talk to and milk Lait every day- brush her too and if the weather's nice take her outside." He dropped a couple things in her arms non-too-gently. "Parting gift for the cow." She examined the stuff, a milker and a brush.

He began to leave and she quickly stopped him with a "Wait!"

He turned back, "I don't know how to take care of an animal!" She said in a panic.

"I just told you." He said in confusion.

She shook her head, "Like, how much do I feed her? What do I do if she shows unusual behaviour? How exactly do I milk a cow? When I pet her, where do I touch? Are there things that are unsafe to do around her?"

She winced after her barrage of questions expecting a snarky response but instead he simply came back in, "Okay, let's go over all this slowly."

"You're not mad?" She asked with some surprise and then berated herself for saying anything.

"You only want to take good care of her, I'd be more pissed if you didn't ask and she got sick or hurt." He responded simply. So he did have a reasonable side.

He thoroughly showed her the ropes this time and she listened attentively, grudging to admit that he was actually really good at his job and knew a lot about cattle care. When he was done she nodded in understanding. "If you're still confused or want to learn more I can lend you books but for now you should be fine."

She nodded, "Thanks Neil."

He just scowled, "Just don't come bothering me for unrelated stuff."

"Don't hold your breath." She huffed dryly.

So when the two parted, they were still not on the best of terms- or any sort of good terms for that matter. She simply shook it all off, if this was the worst the Harvest Goddess could throw at her at this point, then that was just fine. She simply put his presence in town on the ever growing list of things she wouldn't let bother her.

* * *

**Wow Neil is a total jerk. In his defense though, the Gold's have been the direct reason for his lack of social skills- He didn't have a lot of people to talk to growing up because the village the dying.**

**CrimsonCrush- ...It seems thats going to take awhile- Believe me that whole coffee shop thing is going to hold a lot of weight in this story, you'll see :) **

**Cheetos Potato- I wonder too... Nah just joking, you'll see :) **

**Psycho Kay- Thanks! **

**SugarBlasTer- I would guess that she must of felt very disappointed, and embarrassed. Maybe also a little relieved deep down though. Imagine if she'd found out they did have chemistry on the last day she'd ever see him? (On the last day she'd ever thought she'd see him) **

**Ms. Butt3rNut- Oddly enough I can't write down your name without the space between the dot and B. Fanfiction just removes it after I press save. Anyway, Thanks! :33 **


	4. Chapter 4

Clang!

Clang!

The raven haired woman stepped back from her work and sighed. Still not good enough. She was nothing if not her own worst critic and her eyes scoured the metal with an expert eye, picking out every dent and scratch.

It was a cool day in spring but the house proved to be sweltering hot after a particularly long session with the forge. Iroha, the newest addition to the village and blacksmith-in-training dowsed the flames and wiped at her forehead before collapsing onto her couch.

She smelt like earth and metal but at this point was quite used to it.

It was only a couple days earlier that she had wandered into the place known as Echo village in search of the mines and through some inexplicable coincidence, the only empty house for her to stay in was a forge. After discovering this, she had decided to stay for good.

The village was impossibly small and quiet but charming in its own way. The residents were nice and there was even a girl her own age- a farmer no less, someone who also worked with the land. No doubt they became friends almost immediately.

At that moment said farmer stalked into the forge.

Iroha glanced up without much surprise and tossed Rio one of the sofa's decorative cushions.

The blonde caught it swiftly with one hand and promptly buried her face into it letting out a short and muffled scream.

"What did he say this time?" Iroha asked tiredly and Rio already couldn't help but feel soothed by the foreign woman's calm voice slight eastern accent.

"Well, I guess it was nothing now that I think about it." She sighed. "We just got into another argument." It had been but a week since Neil had come into town and the pair had been at each other's throats at every meeting- and in a town of six people they ran into each other _a lot_. So this was not an unusual encounter for Iroha. "I think I'd feel better if he got as worked up as I do though." The farmer sighed, "His tone stays low and cold and I just feel like I made a total fool out of myself when all is said and done."

The blacksmith sighed before shuffling over to accommodate room for Rio to plop down next to her. "You know," She started, "You two really need to do something about all this."

Rio studied her new friend. Iroha was calm, hard-working and reasonable and it was because of this that the farmer learned early on that when she had advice, it was a good idea to listen.

"What do you mean?" Rio asked.

"There's only six people in the village. So if two of them are always bickering, it greatly disrupts the peace." She explained.

Rio twirled the ends of her hair. "You're right… I should find a way to get us to a better place. I keep meaning to but each time I approach him no matter what my intentions are- it ends badly. I could always just stop talking to him." She suggested.

"That's not the best solution." Iroha sighed. "If you two do that, your hostility will never lessen and it's still an uncomfortable situation for the rest of us."

"That's true…" Rio agreed regretfully. "I'll try to think of something! It's hard though, I swear I'm not this confrontational of a person, at least I didn't think I was, he just always seems to get under my skin more than anyone I've ever met before."

"I can tell." The dark haired women assured her comfortingly, "and so I'm sure you two will be able to get along soon."

Rio was about to respond but stopped as she noticed some commotion outside the window. "I think somethings going on." She said and they both stood to glance outside.

A woman and a boy they had never seen before were talking to Dunhill. "Should we check it out?" Asked Rio. Iroha nodded and they headed out the forge and to the trio. Hana and Emma must have seen from their houses too and had the same idea.

"What's all this?" Asked the old woman.

"This is Rebecca and her son Toni." Dunhill introduced. "It's a good thing you're all here actually we have a bit of a problem. These two intend to move into town but we have nowhere to house them."

"Oh dear." Said Emma.

"Luckily Rebecca here is an architect so she's got the blue prints all sorted out for her studio. I was thinking maybe we could all help collect materials." Dunhill suggested and everyone quickly agreed.

"That's a great idea! I'll just go get Neil and we can all head out now!" Emma grinned. The thought of two new villagers was enough to get everyone up in spirits- considering the inn-keeper and his son left right before Rio's arrival, this was the first time in quite a while that there was an actual increasing number of residents.

After Neil was collected Dunhill lead them all out to the river area and the villagers quickly dispersed in search of wood and stone.

Rio shivered once from the cool, moist spring air, pulling at the thin sleeves of her white shirt. Iroha smiled at her. "I've been assigned to turn the raw materials you all find into something useable so I can't collect with you."

Rio smiled apologetically, "Sounds like they've given you the toughest job."

The Japanese woman smiled, "Actually I'd say you do."

"What do you mean?" Asked the farmer.

"Don't you think this is the perfect time to set things right with Neil?" Iroha asked.

Rio paled but ultimately nodded. "You're right… ug, how many times have I said that today, you're always right. I'll try ok? No promises that I'll succeed though."

She collected sticks and stones as she searched out the dealer. Finally she spotted him next to the Goddess pond.

His lone figure stood before the sparkling water and she looked away- despite everything he still was ridiculously good-looking. It wasn't fair that he had such a rotten personality to go with it, when he was alone like that and he allowed his face to drop to neutral, she was reminded that he was indeed the boy from the coffee shop.

He bent down to inspect a fallen branch and she took this opportunity to approach, feeling safer when he was lower than her.

"Hey." She said in a friendly tone, trying to start off their conversation no differently than how she'd talk to Iroha or the other villagers.

For a moment he almost looked surprised by this lack of hostility. "What?" He asked, "Shouldn't you be searching for stuff too?"

"I was," She defended, "Am." She corrected.

"Well then what do you want Rio? I'm not in the mood to fight with you today." He told her and then stood after packing the stick away.

She grimaced. "Listen… I don't want to fight with you anymore either, its exhausting. I really hate this new side of me that's been showing through recently."

He didn't respond and she bit her lip, "What I'm trying to do is fix this messed up thing we've got going on here."

He sighed, "Couldn't you think of a better time?"

"Let's play a game." She said suddenly and the look he gave her was unfathomable. "Who can collect more materials?" She continued.

"What's the incentive?" He asked, surprising her. She had expected him to turn her down, so she hadn't thought that far into the rules of the game.

"Hmm. How about the loser has to do something the winner tells them to." She proposed.

"Fine." Neil agreed, surprising her yet again.

She nodded, "Alright then… So we're really doing this. Ok."

"Better get a move on farmer." He said gruffly, shaking his pack, "It seems I've already got the lead."

She froze, she was just trying to think of something to bring them closer but she hadn't actually had time to consider the consequence of what would happen if she lost. Most likely he'd just tell her to leave him alone unless she needed to buy something from him but she didn't know him well enough to be sure. He was unpredictable, and he hated her.

She quickly dashed off, now desperate to win. As a botanist she did have some advantages, for example, she recognized a very rare type of mushroom when she first came. It was poisonous to eat but had another special feature, it was springy and shockingly sturdy.

She could easily jump off them and reach areas of the forest the rest of the villagers couldn't. By accessing these hidden areas she managed to collect a lot of sticks and rocks that hadn't been picked over.

At the end of the day She ended up heading to Iroha at the exact same time as Neil. He dumped his pile and she dumped hers and the winner was clear without even a need to count.

"I think it's safe to say I won." She said slyly.

He grimaced and just for a moment she thought she might have seen a flash of fear in his eyes. He was probably realizing all of the things she could make him do just as she had considered before.

"So what do you want from me?" He asked dryly.

She paused. She hadn't really considered what _she'd ask_ if she won, she was too busy worrying about what he'd ask. "Hmm I don't know…Why don't you just help me out on the farm tomorrow? You're not working then so…"

"Done." He said quickly before she could change her mind and began to stalk off.

"six thirty tomorrow!" She called out after him and he nodded.

Iroha watched the exchange and nodded. "Good job." She told Rio, "That was probably the first time it didn't end with you screaming bloody murder at him."

Rio sighed, "That's probably only because he wasn't in the mood today."

"Well now you have tomorrow too to make him respect you." Iroha pointed out.

Rio sighed, "I just hope I don't regret this."

There was a clap on the back of her shoulder and Rio jumped. "Rio, just the girl I was looking for!" Dunhill beamed.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Well," Started the mayor, "We've got all the materials together now but we still need someone to build the house and I believe that person's you!"

"Me?!" She asked in wonder.

"I used to get all sorts of letters from your parents! Apparently you're quite the jack-of-all trades! I'm expecting a lot of great things from you! I also hear you breezed through wood shop!" He told her.

She felt sick, building a house was just too much. At the same time Rio Gold's one fatal flaw was her complete inability to let other's down so when she began to decline and Dunhill's face fell she quickly agreed before she even knew what she was doing.

He grinned widely and she vaguely registered another pat on the back, a couple smiles from different residents and then she was standing alone beside the river with a blueprint in her hand,

She sighed deeply and finally began to move, if she wanted to get done in time she'd need to start now.

* * *

**Yup, boring transitional chapter I know, sorry. At this point onwards I'll be straying more from the actual game play events- I just felt I needed them to start out. I'm DEFINITELY not giving every character such a long introduction.**

**I don't know if I'll keep doing individual responses to reviews. They take a lot of time and for the most part, people tend to say the same sort of thing so it's sometimes really hard coming up with different responses. Plus after like twenty collective chapters of this in this story and the other I feel like my responses are kind of getting automated anyway. Maybe I'll just give a general response... I feel bad though, I like to write them to show you guys how much I appreciate you taking time to reveiw- :( sorry**

**To everyone- Thank you so much! *spreads love all over the place* Ug, you guys are awesome!**


	5. Chapter 5

_Somehow _in some inexplicable way, she built the house. An entire house, foundation, brickwork and all in a day's time. It was five o'clock in the morning when she finally wearily slogged into her own home and made her way to the bed. Every fibre of her being was screaming at her to sleep but she wondered if she'd be able to awaken in an hour if she did.

She quickly gave in though and fell onto her bed, the mattress bouncing under her. She was unconscious before she could even turn off the house's lights or tuck herself under the covers.

Naturally, six AM came far too soon for the weary farmer. She turned off her alarm and got up, or at least tried too. The muscles in her legs were more stiff than wood and she had to slide off the bed while keeping straight. Sleeping was a mistake after all. She could tell that immediately. Rio yawned widely, giving the coffee maker only a brief glance of consideration before shaking her head, she needed something stronger than that.

She reached into her drawers and pulled out some of the caffeine pills Chelsea had secretly made in the chem lab, allegedly the equivalent of five shots of expresso and downed one without a second thought.

After that she changed and stretched before there was a knock at the door.

Her eyes were still half closed and she stumbled over, opening the door curiously.

Red eyes met hers and she groaned. "Riiight." She said, "I forgot."

Neil scowled, "You look horrible."

"Couldn't sugar coat it could you?" She asked, "I think this is what you'd expect from a person with one hours sleep after building _a house_."

"Are you even okay to work?" He asked doubtfully.

"Yeah, the caffeine will kick in soon, let's just do this." She muttered and headed out without a second thought. He followed behind her. As the spring air hit her she began to wake up, then she winced- she was supposed to try being friendly to him. She was not off to a good start.

She was about to try and make casual conversation, but while looking at him she stumbled on a rock and when he didn't even make any comment or move to help her, annoyance welled up inside her and she kept her mouth shut.

Dealing with the animals didn't usually take a lot of time, she had started up a flock of chicken figuring if she was going to bother with livestock, she might as well go full out, but even then there wasn't an incredible amount of work to do and with Neil it went by even quicker.

They were done in less than an hour, "Thanks Neil." She said honestly. "I've got a lot of planting ahead of me today so it really helped to have someone help with the animals, even when it was just Lait I'm not sure I was usually done this fast."

He grunted, entirely unimpressed, "It took you that long with just a cow?"

"Well I was still getting the hang of animal care at the time." She defended.

They both stood in silence, "So, uh, you can get on with your day now." She told him.

"You don't want me to help with the plants? Didn't you say I had to help with the farm?" He asked.

"Ah, no, that's fine." She said quickly, "It's a lot of work, I can't expect you to do that, plus everything has to be just so…"

"It's just plants. I can manage."

"Just plants?" She asked dryly. She shook her head, she could tell they were about to go down a dark path. She knew better than to say this next part, and yet for whatever reason she said it anyway. "I'd love to see your reaction if I said something was 'just animals'."

He bristled and tensions rose. "That's different." He said with a controlled voice.

"How?" She countered.

"Well animals are living things-"

"So are plants." She said darkly.

He glared at her, "You didn't let me finish, -Living things with feelings."

"How do you know they have feelings?" She asked.

He bawked at her, "They clearly show it!" This was the first time he was actually getting as worked up as she usually did.

"Plants show all the behavioural responses that animals do!" She said. "They cry when they're hurt- in the form of volatiles, they look out for family- some are even proven to know when a nearby plant is their sibling and they don't outcompete it, they communicate with one and other- let the others know when there is danger, and certain parasitic plants can even sniff out their prey and make choices on who they want to prey off of."

"But they don't have brains!" He objected, "Its all just chemical reactions that make them look like they have feelings!"

"All feelings are chemical reactions!" She pointed out.

"Are you stupid?" He asked, "Some things are just so clearly different! Plants are plants and animals are animals!"

"FINE" She shouted, "You wanna help? Be my guest! I was just trying to be courteous!"

He snorted, "Really now?"

They both gritt their teeth and she shoved some carnation seeds in his hands, "Those get sowed over there." She said curtly, following after him with her own bag.

He was about to scatter some but she stopped him. "No." Was all she said.

He wheeled on her, "You just said-"

She pointed at a long line she had drawn earlier in the dirt. "I planned out where each plant goes based on their photoperiodic cycles. Carnations need long days without disruption, they won't flower beyond that line because of the shadowing of the terraces. This area is for cotton."

He grunted and began to sow on the other side of the line.

They continued to work, only speaking when she had something to pick at with the way he was doing things, for the most part he kept quiet and bared with it until finally-

"No." She said again casually in that infuriating tone and he spun around to face her in annoyance.

"Do you know how freaking annoying that is?! What, what could I possibly be doing wrong this time?!" He exploded.

She was quite guiltily enjoying being the calm one for once, "The soil's more acidic here so I'm just going to plant some apple trees." She sighed, "Though honestly, to think you were going to grow cabbage there of all things!"

He rolled his eyes in exasperation. "_So where do these go_?" He asked levelly and she pointed him to the correct place.

They were finally silent for an hour as he quickly got the hang of things and Rio began to calm down, she wasn't really hostile by nature and there was something about working in the dirt that always seemed to sooth her, so unsurprisingly she began to feel guilty.

"Hey Neil?" She said, crouched beside him as they buried the roots of a seedling.

"What?" He growled.

"I'm sorry." She said honestly.

He didn't say anything, not quite ready to forgive her.

"For a lot of things." She continued, "Obviously I know plants are different than animals, I don't even know what possessed me to say any of that, I was tired and seemed to be looking for a fight."

He nodded.

"Also, I've been really bossy and all-in-all unbearable but I've always been very meticulous with my work. I know you're the same. You can't tell me that if the roles were reversed here and I was helping you out with your job you wouldn't have nit-picked in just the same way."

Finally he sighed, "Yeah I guess that's true. Plus anyone can tell you're about to keel over in exhaustion."

She blinked. "I really look that bad?"

He _almost_ smiled, "I could introduce you to some racoons I know and they'd willingly take you in as one of their own."

She giggled and pat at her face self-consciously, "You even get along with the forest animals huh?"

He nodded.

"That's really cool." She admitted, "I wish animals could like me as much as they like you."

Could it be? Was there actually a good vibe going on between them?

"Hey Neil?" She said as they stood.

"What?" He asked, grabbing the shovel and beginning to dig the next hole.

"Why did you even agree to play the game?- Well, I mean, I didn't think you'd actually bite. You were being unusually tolerant the other day." She said.

He stopped with his shovel still half-embedded in the earth and turned to her. "I care about this village." He admitted, "It's the only home I've ever known, and Dunhill and Emma are some of the only people I care to acknowledge as family. Naturally, I realized I was doing a lot of harm fighting with you all the time and I think I was making them sad… Plus I was getting sick of it too." He admitted.

She sighed in relief. There was another problem to cross off her list. "So I guess we're in agreeance." She said, "Iroha and I came to the same conclusion and so I was trying to find a way to put everything past us."

He blinked as she smiled widely at him. "I hope eventually we can become friends."

"That's a little much." He muttered hesitantly.

"Over time of course." She corrected and then frowned. "I guess I really outta nip this at the root of the problem though."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I'm sorry, that my family let the village down." She said solemnly. "At first I was thinking 'that's just my ancestors! It has nothing to do with me!' but then I realized that this farm was being held onto for an extra ten years because they were saving it for me. My parents were finally settled on selling it before they realized that I was gaining an interest in agriculture."

"No." He said. "You were right the first time."

"What?"

"It wasn't your fault, I think I knew that too, it's just all this frustration was being pent up over the years as more and more people were forced to leave and I needed to turn it on someone, so I turned it on the Golds." He admitted. "I still find you annoying but you're not _that _bad. At least you obviously put thought into your work. That's more than most people."

She stifled a laugh, a couple weeks back she'd be offended if someone told her that, but from Neil who had said so much worse it seemed like a compliment. "Yer not as awful as I thought either." She grinned. "Plus you've got some cool points." She added for good measure.

He looked away in embarrassment and they began to work again but the atmosphere wasn't nearly as heavy.

When they were finally done they looked over their finished word with satisfaction. "It always feels good when you finish something big huh?" She asked wiping some dirt off of her forehead- but only managing to spread more from her dirty work-gloves.

Neil snorted.

"What?" She asked and he simply shrugged. "Really, thank you so much Neil. This was a huge undertaking, I didn't intend for you to have to do this much work. Plus for you to stick around after all the things I said…"

"It helps the village." He shrugged.

"That's true." She smiled. "Hey, do you want to come in for awhile?"

He glanced at her, "Nah, I already told you we're good now. You don't need to keep reaching out."

She blinked in surprise, "That's-"

He had already began to walk away. "See ya." He said curtly.

"Bye." She replied quietly.

* * *

**Things are starting to look up for 'ol Rio.**

**Thanks you so much for readin' everybody, y'all rock!**


	6. Chapter 6

Rio picked at a couple flakes of dirt on her overalls tiredly, they fell onto her floor but she wasn't too bothered by it, she needed to mop today anyway. She made a quick note in her head on the ever growing list of things she had to do. She thought after the initial planting was done she'd have more downtime but Dunhill had approached her a couple days after building Rebecca's house with a pile of town plans he wanted her help with.

It seemed somehow she was now roped into being the town's volunteer carpenter- a duty which encompassed everything from making benches and street lights to building entire buildings and homes.

It was exhausting work but with her efforts more people were coming to town. Speaking of which:

"Rio hunny," The stylist sighed taking off his glasses, "Your hair is a complete mess. I don't think I've ever seen so many split ends before, you really oughta let me clean it up, I'm _actually_ embarrassed for you."

"y-yeah…" Said Rio slowly, she and Iroha exchanged a look and then glanced back at the man sitting with them at the table. They were trying not to make it awkward, they really were but with her nothing-response the room went silent again and all that could be heard was the ticking of the minute hand of her wall clock.

The red haired man, to his credit, looked entirely at peace. One long leg was crossed over the other as he leaned back in the chair and draped an arm over the back.

Allen had moved into town a couple days ago and they still really couldn't make head or tails of him. On his first day, in all his confidence, he simply walked up to them as they were talking and joined in. That in itself wasn't really that peculiar. It was just after that, they figured they'd merely see him around but before they knew it it seemed he was the newest addition to their friend circle. Were they a trio now? Was he their new best friend? Honestly they had no idea. It was hard to tell what the man was thinking or actually feeling at any given time.

It seemed everything he said was always under a veil of thin sly smiles, sarcasm and condescending confidence.

Its not that they didn't like him, well Iroha was on the fence but the main issue was he was not the kind of person either of them were used to talking to and they didn't honestly think he hung out with their type very often either. In the city, with a larger pool of people to talk to, he probably would have never spared them the time of day.

They had figured he'd realize soon that he and them were on different levels but five days later there he was at Rio's dining table, sitting with them casually. It seemed that maybe possibly he might just be there to stay.

He didn't really have anyone else in the village to hang out with they supposed, Emma, Dunhill and Hana were all too old and apparently when introducing himself around the village Neil took one look at him and closed the door in his face- something that somehow didn't surprise Rio in the slightest bit.

Maybe Iroha and her really were the closest thing to an 'in' crowd in this village she realized with some surprise.

Allen shook his head to her last response, "You say that but somehow I can tell you're not really planning on coming."

Rio smiled apologetically, "Taking care of my hair isn't really my priority right now- my work is such that I'm always caked in a layer of mud anyway so there's not much point in being prettied up."

He looked somewhat horrified and she quickly diverted the attention, "Iroha hasn't visited you yet either!"

"She doesn't look like she just walked through a windstorm every time I see her." He sighed, "Honestly, you're unbelievable, just because you work outdoors doesn't mean you can neglect your looks- one's appearance can mean everything."

It's not that Rio was one of those people that didn't care what she looked like. Until she came to the village she was actually quite diligent about her appearance. Not to the point that she was getting up an hour early to do makeup and hair but she was always clean and fresh—though occasionally a little mascara or concealer would be applied on days where she was feeling particularly good… or visiting a certain café.

"Maybe I will book an appointment." She finally conceded. Truthfully she had been feeling rather grutty as of late- freshening up could be a refreshing change.

"That's good." His eyes glinted in victory that he had known he was going to achieve sooner or later. "Maybe we could also do something about those clothes while we're at it?" He asked, pushing his luck.

"They're work clothes!" Rio protested.

"But you're allowed to change when you're done working! Just because you're a farmer doesn't mean you have to look like, well, a farmer."

"Let's just stick to hair today." Rio sighed.

"I promise." He smiled surely. "I work magic. You're lucky in fact to have me here, there are women in the city right now at a complete loss without me."

"You're quite sure of your self aren't you?" Iroha quipped.

Allen was entirely unfazed and simply shrugged with a wry smile, "Is that so bad?"

"No…" Iroha admitted, "I guess I just wish I had the same confidence in my skills."

"Well you never will with that attitude." Allen said, "Take a page from my book."

Rio smiled at the two friends she had managed to make, there really were some benefits to smaller towns. She'd never have connected with either of these two strong personalities back home, but somehow it made things more interesting. At that thought she frowned.

"What's wrong?" Asked Iroha, always alert to these sudden shifts.

"I was just thinking… Shouldn't we be inviting Neil? It's weird that he's the only one left out." Rio admitted.

Allen burst out laughing. "You want to ask him? Go ahead! You're made of some tougher stuff than I thought farmer."

"_You're_ scared of him?" Rio asked in surprise.

"I wouldn't say scared." He pondered, "Rather, I just don't want him to bite your head off. Plus he's impossible to read, you can't so easily trust guys like that."

Iroha and Rio blanked, _Speak for yourself_, they both seemed to think. Allen was probably much harder to understand.

"I know he's kind of rough…" She admitted, "but we've sort of been talking recently, only thirty second conversations mind you, but I get the feeling-" She trailed off, she really didn't know where she was going with this.

"What is it?" Asked Iroha curiously.

"Well, he's prickly but I don't think he really dislikes us. Well maybe Allen…" She admitted. "But he said some things that time he helped on the farm."

"Oh I never did ask you any details on how that day went." Iroha realized.

"I have difficulty imagining that guy helping out with anything." Allen said with the faintest hint of surprise.

"He lost a bet." Rio quickly explained, "Anyway, he loves this village, and the villagers like Dunhill and Hana… and I don't think he truly likes being alone despite what he says. He's sad when villagers leave."

"He certainly doesn't show it." Allen scoffed.

Iroha nodded, "It's not that I don't believe you but he had a rather chilly interaction with Dunhill just the other day."

"Well that's what I mean." Rio explained, "You can't tell what he's thinking at all, he's a total enigma but if he treats the people he cares about like he treats us, doesn't that mean he doesn't actually mind us? Think of him like… a cat. I had one when I was a kid that would not even let you touch him but I was really sick once and in bed for three days and he hardly left my side."

"You could try befriending him but whatever you do please just don't start fighting with him again. Things finally settled down." Iroha sighed.

With that concluded, Allen stood up, "Well, shall we go?"

"Go?" Asked Rio in surprise.

"To my salon. I'm not going to wait for you to change your mind." He smiled slyly.

Rio sighed but ultimately complied. He was doing her a favour after all, working past his shop's hours.

* * *

She exited an hour later experimentally bouncing her soft fluffy locks. Allen really was talented, very little length was removed and yet her hair was completely transformed, she couldn't remember it ever being this soft either. The slightest gust of wind caused it to flutter and she quickly put her hat on top to keep it in place.

She paused as she past Neil's house.

There was only one more thing she had planned to do for the day. She had overheard from some farmers from a neighbouring village say that Neil could tell how well an animal has been treated from a single taste test of its produce.

She had been wanting to get his opinion on Lait's progress as well as thank him again for all he did on her farm the other week. Now seemed as good a time as any to bug him.

When she walked into the house, there was a man she had never seen before fighting with Neil.

"Some shopkeeper you are! I'll never buy from you again!" The man growled.

Neil looked up from his paper with that ever-familiar icy-calm glare. A shiver went up Rio's spine, it was scary even when it wasn't directed at her. "You think I'd want to sell to someone like you? It was a mistake to sell you her in the first place."

The man's face turned red and he wheeled around to storm out, shoving Rio as he went and she fell backwards. He turned back, probably to tell her off for being in his way but he stopped dead in his tracks upon looking at her. The dealer and farmer watched in surprise as all of the hostility drained from his face. "Your highness." He said in awe and horror. He must have been an H.M alumni as well she realized.

He quickly knelt to her side, "I am so sorry!" He said in a panic, "I can't believe I just did that to the fairy of the gardens!" He extended a hand and helped her up.

As she stood she made sure to keep her posture straight and she smiled, holding her hands together. "It's completely alright." She said softly. Neil shot her a look but she just smiled back politely- she knew to him she must have been acting bizarrely out of character. If it was him that had done that she'd have given him a mouthful.

"I'll be." He shook his head, "Never thought I'd be seeing your face again."

Rio simply kept smiling politely, glad Allen had taken care of her first. It would have been an embarrassing encounter is she were the mess she was before.

"Oh right." He slapped a hand over his face, "Of course you don't know me though! I was in your graduating year- It's such an honour to meet you actually, I saw you once from outside the greenhouse and might I say you were just stunning."

Rio grimaced uncomfortably shifting her weight, "Is there something you needed from Neil?" She asked changing the topic.

As if just remembering now, he glowered, "That's right!" He said angrily, "This man sold me a sick cow!"

Now Neil was angry too, the chair screeched as he stood up abruptly and marched over, "How dare you?! That cow got sick because you couldn't take care of it properly!"

"Can you believe this guy!" The man asked Rio angrily.

"Neil…" Rio said.

"You believe _him_?" Neil said in surprise and then narrowed this eyes, "just go Rio, this doesn't have anything to do with you!"

Ordinarily Rio would have snapped at Neil but instead she stepped back regretfully, not wanting to stand up for herself in front of the man- it was sort of her responsibility to keep up the HM traditions and act elegantly in front of other students both former and current. Plus imagine the guy's shock if the dainty fairy starting screeching like a banshee. She really couldn't handle that look of disappointment in anyone, not even a stranger.

Neil looked at her questioningly for a moment, "Don't look at me like that idiot, it'll look like I'm bullying you."

The man stepped in front of Rio angrily, "Don't talk to our fairy like that! Do you have any idea who she is?!"

Rio stepped away from him, "This hardly matters now, that was the past."

"But your majesty-"

"Please, call me Rio."

"Rio…"

"Neil's a good friend of mine." She told him, she might have been stretching the truth a little. "He would never let an animal get sick." She turned to Neil, "But surely you weren't going to just let him leave when there is a sick cow."

Neil blinked, "Erg, you're right. What was I thinking?" He quickly routed through his supplies and handed the man a potion, before sharing a couple words of advice.

The man still didn't look very happy with the dealer but Rio smiled sweetly, "See. Neil's quite nice don't you think?"

"Yeah." Said the man regretfully, not wanting to tell her she was wrong.

"And everything is settled now?" She asked.

"…yeah." He sighed.

She clapped her hands once together and flashed a dazzling but fake smile, _"Isn't this wonderful!"_

He watched her in wonder and smiled, "Yeah, it is. Hey, do you want to go somewhere? I have so much about farming I'd love to talk with you about. Maybe you could give me a tour of your farm? The famous inheritance right?"

Rio frowned, just slightly. She didn't really want to go anywhere with that man and was just a little suspicious of his intentions but-

"Can't you tell she has business with me?" Neil asked in annoyance, "It's why she's here in the first place."

"Oh, yes!" She said, giving Neil a discreet and grateful nod which he returned. "I'm sorry, I can't today."

"Plus don't you need to be getting that to Bessie?" He asked lowly.

The man sighed in disappointment but ultimately conceded before leaving.

"Thanks." She sighed after he was gone and out of earshot.

"What was with you?" He asked, "You were acting kind of disgusting."

She looked up at him in surprise before laughing, "I guess I was wasn't I?" She sighed, "Well I better go…"

He grabbed her arm and she glanced back in silent question. "I just said we had business together didn't I? You want to make me a liar to my customers?"

"No?" She said.

He pulled her out of the house by the arm roughly and she stumbled along, after a while he let go and she followed him curiously. He led her through the forest, slowing down so she could keep in comfortable step next to him and all she could wonder was where were they going?

Finally she asked him.

"I don't really know." He admitted.

"Huh?" She asked skeptically.

He sighed, "I'm not good with this stuff." He admitted.

"What stuff?" Rio asked in wonder and he shot her an irritated look from the barrage of questions.

"…It just looked like he kinda bummed you out." He finally said. "You _are_ ok right?"

It took her a minute to understand this was Neil's best attempt at cheering her up. She looked at him in awe for a moment, he just grimaced. "You're important to the town so… or rather I want to thank you for looking out for the cow." He said fiddling with his bangs. "Sometimes I lose my head and forget about the more important matters."

"Of course." Rio humoured him, he always had an excuse ready for when he was acting uncharacteristically kind.

Finally in a small almost non-existent clearing he plopped down on a rock and looked back at her to do the same.

"Spill." He said.

She stood there dumbly, "Excuse me."

"I thought maybe…. You wanted to talk about it." Neil muttered, watching some ants crawling in a line next to him.

"Talk about what exactly?" She asked in surprised.

"Why the things he said bothered you." He said.

Rio crossed her arms and closed her eyes in thought. "This isn't really a big deal or anything like that. I don't have some tragic backstory with dead or abusive parents. I wasn't bullied in school or had some horrible breakup that broke my heart in two. So talking about my life in a grim tone just seems silly." She smiled apologetically. It probably wasn't easy for him to go so far out of his way and allow her to confide in him but there just simply wasn't anything to confide about. Her problems were hardly worth speaking of.

"I'm calling bull." He said staring her dead in the eyes. "Everyone has something that's a big deal to them. I don't usually do this so don't get used to this being a thing and DEFINITLY don't get the wrong idea but just once, I'll hear you out."

"o-kay…" Rio finally conceded. "Everyone at the university looked up to me for whatever reason, I was called the fairy of the gardens." She said quietly.

"Well yah I get that part. What could possibly be wrong with that?" He asked in confusion.

"You know me better than they do Neil." She almost whispered, "I'm not a fairy, or some princess." There it was her deepest darkest insecurity she had never admitted out loud laid out in front of a near stranger. She thought she'd stop there but she was finding herself actually aching to tell him more.

He gave her the time to collect her thoughts and after a long minute she began to speak again. "I've always been very sensitive to the expectations of others. There is nothing as awful as that moment you let someone down. Even as a kid I was really diligent about this. So I studied hard so my parents wouldn't be disappointed, I always completed tasks I was assigned to be they arduous, difficult or hair-pullingly tedious. The problem there was that I did this a little too often and so people's expectations of me continued to grow and I had to work harder and harder to keep up. It was all fine though. Until college." She sighed at that point before continuing.

"You know how when you're around animals your personality changes? Maybe you don't even notice it, I can relate though. I've always felt a lot more at peace around plants. Around them I can't help but feel calm, I'm not worried about my actions so I'm not nearly as clumsy as I am around people and I just kind of get wrapped up. So I always seemed more tranquil in the greenhouses but you know… they're made of glass walls so people saw this from afar and I became the fairy of the gardens.

Expectations were greater than ever, not just mark wise, but they assigned this personality to me that was hardly even that of a human's! Perfect, smart, lady like and ethereal. People wanted a perfect girl to look up to and they made me that person. Though everyday I'd look into the mirror and I'd see that that wasn't me, it was weird, I started to feel worse and worse about myself the more people praised me- the standards were set to high and I began to feel downright beastly under all the lies.

I didn't go to parties or date or have any sort of social life 'cause I felt like I was someone who needed to be hid away. I knew if people met me, they'd see the true me and they'd be disappointed. I can see that moment on their face, no matter how much they try to hide it and it tears me apart… I really wanted to do all that stuff though."

She had thought after graduating she could throw that all away but… "Anyone who's anyone in the farming world though went to HM University. The title will always stick and follow me." She sighed. "So I guess I just gotta' accept it."

She shuffled for a moment finally hugging her knees to her chest and dabbing at her eyes as she felt the sting of unshed tears. "Ugg, Why am I even telling you this? And why the heck do I feel like I'm about to cry? I've never really thought of it as such a big deal or anything. This is just silly, I'm being stupidly dramatic over nothing. I swear I don't cry in front of people." She promised, "This is so dumb. Maybe I'm letting my guard down around you just a little too much since you pretty much have zero expectations of me, and zero faith in anything I do." She laughed bitterly.

He was quiet for a very long time. At first he had almost immediately opened his mouth to protest but he shut it with a conflicted grimace. Finally he closed his eyes with a look of indifference, "Yup, that's right. I expect absolutely nothing from you." He looked at her seriously "but then again that's just how I feel about any person, I can't put trust in anyone but myself, it's how it's always been. The only difference with you is sometimes… I'm pleasantly surprised."

She stopped and had to stare. He always said the worst and most careless things, but he had clearly put quite a bit of thought in what he just said, and had come up with the perfect response or rather, the only truly acceptable one. Actual tears began to fall and he stood up in panic. "What the heck?! I just made you cry? You said you didn't cry though! That wasn't what I was trying-" He faded off as she began to laugh at his panicked expression. He shook his head in exasperation, "And now you're laughing? Or are you crying? Are you laughing or crying?"

Finally she just shook her head and smiled warmly.

He sighed and shook his own head as well, "And now you're smiling… You know this is why men think women are crazy." Still, he looked a little relieved.

She felt something stir, something dangerous, something remarkably like the affection she had once fostered for him. She bit her lip in panic it was a steep cliff down and she knew it, she had been here before.

It wasn't fair that he had this effect he had on her, this way of bringing out her every emotion, love, hate, sadness, happiness. It wasn't fair that he was such a jerk, or such sweetheart. It especially wasn't fair how he managed to stay neutral through all of this and even now, be so incredibly, ridiculously handsome.

It was as he got up to leave that she remembered the reason she sought him out in the first place. She rummaged through her bag and pulled out the milk. "Wait! Neil!" She called and he waited for her to catch up.

"This is for you!" She told him.

He took it curiously. "I wanted your opinion." She grinned, "And also to thank you again, I harvested my first crops today and I thought of you."

"Thanks." He said quietly, "I like milk." He admitted.

"Also…" She began, "Just know that all of us, Iroha, Allen and I, you can come hang out with us anytime."

He almost looked sad for a moment. "Thanks Rio but… I don't really do well in groups."

"Well, you can come talk to me anytime." She smiled and for a quarter of a second, she could have sworn he smiled back. Then as if catching himself, he scowled and as always, made his escape.

"Whatever. See you later." He said over his shoulder and she sighed. Talking to him felt like playing an arcade game, the second you broke down his walls the level would restart and he'd have refortified them in an instant. He was so stubborn in that way.

She understood him better now though, he was likely a jerk out of necessity but it was still frustrating. The truth was he probably learned long ago not to get too attached to people, such was the nature of the town but she had no intention of going anywhere and wondered if he'd ever realize this and finally open up.

Maybe if she just continued on as she was going, building up the town and bringing in people, he'd relax a little.

She wasn't sure still how she felt about him but one thing she knew for sure, she wouldn't mind seeing him smile again.

* * *

**Boy that was a long one. It's cause I collapsed two chapters together since Allen's introduction only ended up needing about seven hundred words.**

**Thank you for reading/reviewing/following/favoriting!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry it's been awhile, who knows if anyone even remembers my current stories anymore! I wanted to wait until I was off school for spring term, then I wanted to wait until I was settled with a job and now well... I have a job that's a little more demanding than school ever was in the first place... There's very few chances to write now, or even get in the mood. Sorry again.**

* * *

She had put a lot of thought into that day with Neil in the forest. A couple hours' worth at least, not all at once but when she was left to her own devices and had nothing to do during her more thoughtless chores her mind drifted back to a certain boggling problem.

In the end she had come to one reaffirming conclusion:

She did not have feelings for Neil.

Her first love was the man at the coffee shop who although shared the same face as her animal dealer, was not him. In her brief moment of weakness and Neil's briefer moment of kindness, the man her heart skipped a beat for was not Neil, it was the comforting image of café-guy that she had seen in him for a short instant. Her brain was just trying so hard to process two different people being the same person and was forcing this second person she made up onto Neil to handle it.

It wasn't fair to him. He didn't need her chasing him around because of some pre-conceived feelings she once had. It also really wasn't fair to her, She could never be happy keeping this on. She just wasn't sure what to do. She wasn't delusional, she knew exactly who Neil was and yet she also knew that being around him, she'd keep having these weird moments. After all, he hadn't even done that much, it wouldn't have been sweet if Allen or any of the other villagers comforted her with a simple, "You're not horrible." –That's paraphrasing what Neil had said down to the bare bones. It seemed some part of her was just so desperate for Neil to be everything she had imagined him to be that it would grasp at anything.

Still, he proved himself to be a potentially caring friend who truly understood her that day and so she couldn't just ignore him either.

Torn up in this bizarre situation she simply decided not to do anything and leave it be for the time being, it wasn't really such a big deal. On a scale from stranger on a subway to completely head-over-heels she had only felt a single butterfly in her stomach which shouldn't have warranted this much concern. So instead, she just went on focusing on restoration plans.

Buildings and amenities were quickly popping up around town by her doing and new villagers seemed to be moving in every day.

It was a Monday near the tail-end of spring that Iroha finally managed to tear her away from the blueprints for an afternoon. A strange image considering the raven herself was the human embodiment of overworking.

She knew to take care of herself though, and despite being close in age to Rio, had been looking out for herself for a much longer amount of time. No doubt Rio would be a frantic mess these next couple days before the crop and flower festival given her botanical interests so she needed the rest now before she fried out.

So the two young women huddled up in their spring/fall jackets due to the unseasonably cool day and went for a walk, moving briskly at first to warm up but eventually slowing down and doddering here and there without much direction or purpose.

Rio paused and Iroha continued two strides before noticing she was leaving her behind.

"Rio?" She asked.

The blond adjusted her stenson and knit her eyebrows as she tried to make out the sight up the hill in the village square.

"Is that a second stall next to Neil's?" She asked.

Iroha shook her head in slight amusement. "Indeed." She acknowledged, "A pet seller I hear… Didn't you make his cabin?"

"Oh," Rio's eyes light with recollection, "That was for him then?"

"You spend all that time building those houses and you don't bother to find out who you made them for?" Iroha said in wonder.

"Well, it's never too late." The farmer shrugged and headed to the stall next to Neil's.

A boy around their age with light, amber hair and goggles rummaged below the counter. The cats in the enclosure next to him swarmed the metal fence in with a chorus of cacophonous mewls and yowls. The guy chuckled, "They know where the food's at huh?" before digging even deeper.

Presumably this comment was directed to Neil who was watching impassively from his own counter seeing as he hadn't gotten his head out of the cupboard yet two notice the two girls in front of him. "They always do." Neil agreed hardly acknowledging the pair with the briefest of nods.

There was a clacking noise as one cat started grabbing at the metal with its claws. "One second, One second." The pet seller called good naturedly before rising with a large bag of kibble.

Finally spotting the two the boy readjusted the bag in his arms and beamed a bright smile, "Hey!"

Rio opened her mouth to respond but he cut her off.

"Don't say anything, let me guess! Rio and Iroha right?" He asked hopefully glancing at the farmer then the blacksmith in turn.

"Yeah." Rio agreed.

"I'm Rod, I have heard so much about you two!" He exclaimed as if deaf to the suffering felines trying to convey to him their on-the-brink-of-starvation condition.

Iroha and Rio exchanged a look before glancing at Neil quizzically.

Rod laughed, "No not from him, from Allen. He's my childhood friend."

"Oooooh." The two nodded in understanding.

"Speaking of Allen." Rod said, noticing the red-head on his way over.

"Having a party without me?" the stylist asked, pretending to be offended.

"I was just meeting my replacements." Rod said wiping at a non-existent tear.

"Well eventually I was going to have to upgrade." Allen replied with a half-smile.

Neil sighed in annoyance, "For the love of Harvest Goddess, feed those poor-things already before they break down that wall."

Rod jumped on the spot as if suddenly remembering, "Right!" He said, pouring the food into bowls which the cats immediately attacked.

"So you built my house right?" Rod asked turning to Rio.

Rio grinned, "Yup, the log cabin right?"

"Right." He smiled, "Thanks a tonne! It's really impressive that you managed to do that and keep up with your farm."

"Thanks." Rio scratched her nose in embarrassment at the compliment.

"And you're a blacksmith?" Rod and Iroha in wonder.

"Yes." She agreed.

"Allen I'd say the village girls are really showing us up." He joked.

Allen simply shrugged, "Well I told you not to come here expecting sweet girls. These two hardly take care of themselves, complete brutes."

Rio laughed and stuck out her tongue.

Rod shook his head, "You shouldn't talk about them like that, they're actually quite cute." He grinned honestly with no ulterior motive.

Iroha's face turned red much to Allen and Rio's surprise. "C-cute? Ah sorry, no one's ever…" She coughed into her fist and glared at him, "Please don't make fun of us."

Rod frowned and tilted his head in confusion, "I wasn't…" Then with sudden realization he apologized, "I'm so sorry! I didn't realize that was probably a really demeaning thing to say to women trying to flourish in traditionally male roles." Then he paused and got even more flustered, "Wait! I mean- I didn't mean that you guys aren't fit for- I just…" He blanked and Allen pat his head.

"That's why I had to replace this friend model, always short-circuiting." The stylist shook his head.

Iroha laughed, "It's quite alright Rod, we know what you mean… and….. I'm not opposed to being called _that, _I was just caught off guard." She blushed.

"Oh good." Rod sighed, "I really thought I was digging a ditch for myself there."

Rio and Allen exchanged an amused look, both silently agreeing to tease Iroha about this the second they had her alone.

They all talked for a little Neil tuning them out and eventually Rio and Iroha broke back off onto their walk. Allen took a couple quick strides to catch up to them, too cool to jog, and placed a hand on either of their shoulders.

"So you both seemed to get along well with Rod… One of you in particular actually." He grinned giving the blacksmith a pointed look.

"He's very kind." Iroha agreed.

"Just admit it." The stylist said, "You could not be more obvious in your falling for him if you _literally_ fell down back there."

Iroha scowled and nodded her head to Rio. On one hand the farmer felt it tempting to join in the teasing but well, sisters before misters. They both rolled their shoulders at the same time to knock him off and they continued to walk.

"Later Allen!" Rio called. He did his best to look dejected like an abandoned puppy but it was not an act he could pull off and realizing this he simply shrugged before returning to the salon. The matter with Rod was wisely not brought back up.

The week zoomed by and naturally, Rio won the beginner class of her first crop festival. The completion left dolefully muttering something about not expecting to have to face off with the fairy at that level as they returned home.

Then, the next day it was the flower festival, something she had been looking forward to for quite a while. A day for giving flowers to the people you appreciate. Naturally, being a botanist growing nearly every spring plant under the sun she went a little overboard creating personalized bouquets for everyone in town as well as sending some out to some of her old professors.

She had also wanted to give one to Chelsea but the brunette was surprisingly laying under the radar. The last she had heard the brunette was getting on a boat to present her super seed to some stuffy board of directors of some fancy company in the city.

She shrugged it off assuming that her friend was simply very busy and began carefully packing her presents away in her sack to deliver to the various villagers. The first place she set her sights on was the general store, what awaited inside was not exactly what she had been expecting.

Neil handed Hana a large bouquet.

Rio blinked at him curiously, "From her husband not me." He clarified. "I'm just delivering for him."

"You have a husband?" Rio asked, turning to Hana.

The old woman smiled, still admiring her flowers. "Yes, I can't believe I haven't told you about him yet. He's out on a very long fishing trip but he'll come back eventually. He always does."

The blonde inched closer to the desk and beamed, "Ah, what good taste he has! May I?" She asked gesturing to the bouquet. Hana nodded.

The farmer stroked a velvety petal in inspection. "You know many flowers have a secret meaning?" She asked. Pointing at each bloom one by one she translated, "Red camellias means, 'you're the flame of my heart' and pink ones mean, 'longing for you'. It means wherever he is he wants you to know he still loves you and that he misses you."

"My, he still is quite the charmer." The old woman put a hand to her lip in amusement.

Rio scratched her chin thoughtfully, "He must be pretty far away right now, these flowers don't appear often in local flower shops."

Hana shook her head, "Last letter I received he was in Asia."

"…That's a pretty significant distance for a fishing trip." Rio admitted.

"He likes the adventure." Hana sighed. She smiled at Rio, "I always knew you were into the science of plants but I wasn't expecting you to know flower language too."

"Of course!" Rio shook her head, "I find the meanings each flower is given so interesting, and it's why giving flowers is so personal. There's a flower for everything so you can tailor your own message like, I got Rod yellow tulips 'cause he has such a nice smile, and I snuck some narcissus into Allen's bouquet. It means 'you're sweet but have a big ego.'" Rio giggled, "We're friends though so I'm sure he'll take it with some humour."

Remembering why she came, Rio quickly rummaged through her backpack pulling out two of her own bouquets. "Speaking of which, this is for you." She handed one to Hana, "And this one is for you!" She grinned handing the other to Neil.

"Me too?" He asked with some surprise.

"Of course!" She laughed, "Thanks for everything up until now." She thanked both of them and then sprinted off to her next stop.

Neil turned the flower over once in his hand thoughtfully and Hana smiled, "Well, should we translate our own flowers?"

"What?" He asked.

"I'm pretty sure I have I flower book on my shelf somewhere, Why don't we figure out want Rio wanted to tell us." She suggested.

"I don't really care either way." He shrugged, but none-the-less stayed rooted in place and Hana turned away to hide her smile. She had known Neil longer than anyone and he knew he couldn't lie to her.

Who wouldn't want to know exactly what someone thought of them? He justified.

The woman returned from the backroom with an old, thin paperback and started leafing through it, "Let's see…hmm." He watched the pictures of flowers of all shapes and sizes flip by. She stopped at the pictures identical to the ones in her bouquet, "Well, chrysanthemums mean 'you're a wonderful friend' and stock means, 'you'll always be beautiful to me' and 'affection'. She's such a sweet girl."

"Now for you…" She said to Neil stopping her flipping and frowning. "Oh my…"

"What?" Asked Neil.

"Hydrangeas for frigidity and heartlessness." She admitted, "I really thought you two patched things up… did something happen?"

"No." He said with slight bewilderment. Truth be told, a couple weeks back he'd have expected these kinds of feelings from her but now, after he actually _tried _to be nice, it stung a little.

The woman looked back at the book as if to double check and then sighed in relief. "Wait, it can also mean, 'thank you for understanding me.'"

"That's too confusing." Neil shook his head.

Hana laughed, "You look relieved Neil, perhaps you really do care what she thinks?"

The dealer scowled which only amused the woman more. "Well she put chrysanthemums in there too so she thinks you're a friend." Hana smiled at the man she looked at as a son with a gentle smile, "So all together, 'Thank you for understanding me, you're a wonderful friend'."

"Whatever." He shook his head and left. Only when he was out of the store did the very ghost of a smile paint his lips.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey everybody so finally there's been a spike in the progress between Neil and Rio, I know I just posted but I've been waiting for this forever and now I'm so excited to keep-**

_-Hey everyone! Chelsea here! Remember me? Rio's awesome friend from chapter one!_

_We'll go back to her love story next time but chapter eight has officially been hijacked by me! Sorry Umbreonix. Sure you all could just skip this and all will be fine in continuity and everything but, aren't you curious where I ended up? What about my love story? After all, we both already know how hers is ultimately going to end up, they're probably going to come together in the most sickeningly sweet way possible, maybe have a bunch of impossibly adorable blond rugrats too one-dimensional to belong anywhere outside fanfiction so why not give my tale a listen? _

_You all probably just forgot about me, pegging me up as some character to help set up the plot didn't you? That's kind of cruel you know.. I was also a main character in the HM series. For THREE games even. (Regardless of how you feel about Frantic Farming it still counts)_

…_Somehow I think half the readers just skipped this chapter… I did tell them they could but that still kinda' ticks me off._

_Anyhow let's delve-_

Nearly a season ago, immediately after graduating I was already being fought over by all of the largest agricultural companies. I was on my way to present my college project- a super strawberry to Harvester's inc. when something ridiculous happened. While my boat was still in the middle of nowhere a freak storm hit us and the whole ship capsized. So I was stranded on a deserted island. Yeah, that's right, that's how my story starts. Hella interesting isn't it?

Anyway, I was washed ashore onto an abandoned island along with another family who was morbidly undisturbed by the events that lead us there. They immediately started talk of the possibility of revitalizing the island, what a _miracle opportunity_!

If the italics didn't give it away that was sarcasm. I mean, it's not like there weren't forty-three unaccounted for souls from that possibly tragic boat accident. I notice tiny details like that.

I had no intention of settling down and becoming a farmer like the old man wanted me to, especially not on some creepy abandoned island. I did have every intention though of becoming ridiculously rich selling my patent super-strawberry seeds. Seeds that were in danger.

You see, seeds are a mysterious thing. I'm not going to go deep into the science of it all but many follow very important requirements for germination. Strawberries require about two weeks of freezing temperatures, then warmth and moisture. My genetically engineered strawberries? They only needed a day of cold.

The sea waters in the early spring were freezing. The shore the next morning where I woke up was warm from the beating sun and needless to say I was thoroughly wet. As were the seeds in my pocket.

They needed to be planted immediately or I risked ruining them and the early chance at extreme wealth.

So when Taro offered me that farm for whatever reason instead of to his grandson or granddaughter I jumped on it, conveniently telling them only what I thought they should know. They did not need to know, for example, that I was planning to split after the spring yielded my next generation of strawberries. If they knew that they'd undoubtedly give the farm to someone else and I wasn't going to grow my seeds on someone else's land. Whoever they were could screw me over legally in so many ways if they knew what my 'berries were worth.

In fact, I was quite satisfied letting them assume I was just some college dropout with a bag of seeds planning on starting a new life as they had been in Forget-Me-Not Valley, the stop the boat was going to take before the big city.

To be honest I was always just a little smarter and just a little more manipulative than anyone had ever given me credit for.

I was truthful with Rio of course, she's my best friend! Erm- mostly truthful. Uh. Old habits die hard?

I mean, there were certain details I never bothered correcting her on. Like maybe that I was actually the same age as her… or a bit younger and had just skipped a good portion of elementary school deciding after grade four that playing along as if I was just learning the multiplication tables when I was actually computing advanced functions at home was decidedly boring.

When I got to Uni, I made the decision to let my peers assume I was their age. 'Cause you know, who was going to sneak booze to a kid?

Then when Rio came around I was just enjoying having this awed freshman look up to me as her senior in both age and grade. As we got closer the time to tell the truth kinda passed. That all being said she knew my true nature, she's probably the only one to figure it out. So don't go thinking I don't care about her or anything.

Anyway, this was supposed to be a story of my present not my past so let's just focus on the now.

The island was slowly returning to its former glory and soon became a rather happening place. It was a warm night and the island's favourite fisherman suggested to the rest of the youth that we have a party to welcome the premature summer.

As everyone drank and laughed around the bonfire I almost felt guilty that I planned to leave in less than a week. It would definitely all work out though, this one guy Mark moved to the island and begged me to take him on as a sort of protégée. He was dreaming of someday running his own farm, little did he know that "one day" was a lot sooner than he thought.

Lanna the former pop star sang an awful drunken tune and Denny quickly stabilized her. He definitely had the hots for her, I'm calling it now. I love watching people when they are drunk, they forget to put their guards up or stay subtle and it lets you gather all sorts of information. He took the bottle from her hand, "Ok let's settle down here, you've had what? A bazillion drinks?" Three point two to be exact, as well as four crackers and about two hundred mL of water. I was keeping tabs on everybody.

I snorted, trying to match the demeanor of everyone else though I don't really get drunk easily. Six years of engineer parties will do that to you. "A bazillion? Sound math bro."

Denny shrugged, "Hey I took highschool calc. I failed it but I took it nonetheless, that stuff's hard but I know my numbers."

"Hard?" I laughed. "No kidding. We had this one math class back in college. It was super tough, the class average was a thirty going into the final exam. People got so stressed out, one of my friends was throwing up all night the night before." _I of course wasn't too worried, I had a 95 in the course._

"So how'd you handle it?" Asked Denny.

"With a water bottle full of vodka!" I laughed, "I was wobbling out of the exam room at the end." _That didn't stop me from scoring a 98 though._

Natalie laughed loudly, "You got spunk Chelsea!" She whacked her brother good naturedly who had been sitting next to her nervously declining any drinks. "This guy was a total goody-two shoes. I doubt he went to a single college party while he was there!"

Elliot reached to pick up his glasses that fell down and he glared at his sister. "I also _passed_ college with _honours_." He reminded her. "You know Chelsea, you probably should have taken school more seriously, you were paying a lot of money to be there and many would have killed for that opportunity."

I shrugged, "I'm here now just the same aren't I?"

I never got show-offs. It's so much more fun holding everything in for yourself and enjoying the private joke. Let people laugh at you while you laugh at them. Rio has informed me now and then though that that sort of mentality is kinda twisted. *Shrugs*

The party eventually came to an end and I stood up from my log, "Well I bid thee all a good night." I grinned and bowed magnificently before walking off like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Julia laughed, "Chelsea, you're wasted! Don't get lost on the way home!"

"I won't!" I called and looked back quizzically, "My home's in the woods right? I can't quite remember."

"Oh you!" Julia laughed as Elliot helped her up and offered to help her home.

Mark was trying to quell a raving Natalie and Denny extended his hand to Lanna.

I just shook my head and continued off, that sort of chivalry never made sense to me. Maybe at school or in the city where bad people lurked but on this island there were no immediate threats that put the girls in any sort of disadvantage to the guys. They could easily get home on their own.

Of course no one was worried about me. No one ever was. It's funny how easily everyone forgets I'm also a girl.

Not that I cared. Well, maybe a little.

I squinted my eyes to make out the shadowy image up ahead recognizing it to be Vaughn, Julia's cousin, my animal dealer, and a total grump who refused to come to our little shin-dig.

He was a complete snore personality-wise which was a shame since he was kind of cute in the most exotic way. White hair, purple eyes.

Said eyes glared up at me from under his stenson as my approach scared away whatever wild animal he had been bent over.

"Vaughy- Bonney!" I cheered gleefully. "If you didn't have anything to do you should have come to the party."

"No." He said.

I shrugged, that was as much as I was expecting from him to be honest. "What a shame." I said as if truly upset and then headed on back down the walkway that eventually lead to my farm humming a nonsensical tune.

It took me half a second to sense that he had gotten up and was following me. I quickly turned around and batted my baby blues. "Can I help you with anything Mr. Cowboy?" I asked in a southern belle accent.

He pulled his hat down a little, "Well I have to make sure you get back alright." He said.

"Why?" I asked enjoying his rare display of uncomfortableness. I watched his internal battle, it wasn't shown on his blank face like most people but I could tell what was going on nonetheless.

Honestly he hated people and if he could live in a world with just animals he would. He certainly more so than most hated my sort of over-friendly personality. Yet there was that nagging feeling that, being the unfortunate soul to see me last, he'd be the one in trouble if I didn't get home safe. Mirabelle, his aunt, would totally blame him and it would be an annoying inconvenience for him in any way. Then again I was probably fine and then he would have had to of spent a couple of his precious minutes on me.

Ultimately though his decision was made, "I'll walk you home." He said. Perhaps it was some inbred sense of chivalry, maybe the realization that I was one of his few customers on the island. Either way I accepted it with some humour,

"My, such a gentleman." I said bringing back the accent and clinging to his arm dramatically. The look on his face told me he was already regretting it all.

So as we walked along, me deciding to stumble here and there, he sighed, "What were you even doing on your own?"

"What were you doin' on yer own? I was at a party full of people." I asked.

"You know that's not what I meant." He said sternly as we entered the farm.

"Well what did you mean?" I asked innocently reaching for his prized hat, he batted my hand away.

"You were in no condition to head home on your own." He said with stern… concern maybe? Did I perhaps read him wrong? I never read people wrong.

"I'm fine." I waved it off, "Pierre went home on his own and if there were some crazy murderer on the island I think they'd go for him first.

"Pierre's not a girl." Vaughn said. "They shouldn't have let you go off on your own."

I looked at him blankly for a moment caught entirely off guard. "A- uh." I never stuttered or was at a loss for words. "No one sees me as one though." I said honestly.

"I do." He said.

With that my surely cob-web filled heart began to beat. "o-oh." I didn't like losing the control here so I quickly gathered myself back up and gave him a sultry yet Cheshire grin. "I've decided." I said suddenly.

"What?" He asked. I reached up slowly on the very tips of my toes and gave him slow kiss on the lips before he could even process what was happening. Then I was back down and grinning at his entirely taken-aback expression.

"I like you, I'm gonna make you fall for me." I said, sweetly smiling at my new toy.

He just shook his head in bewilderment, fighting desperately to quell his reddening face. "Wow you're drunk." He said. Repeating this in the back of his head no doubt to stop himself from getting too mad at me. It's not like I was in my right mind right? I almost laughed at that thought. He'd realize soon enough how serious I was.

So I waved him off and headed in for the night. I guess staying on the island a little while longer couldn't hurt….

… **Wow that Chelsea sure is a handful huh? Stealing this chapter from me and every- LOL nah just kidding, still Chelsea here. I tricked yah by speaking in bold didn't I? To be honest Umbreonix isn't trying to take the story back at all she just sort of walked off after I interrupted muttering, "Whatever I'll be at the rink, don't mess up this story too badly."**

**Anyway this is where we part ways, I'll let you get back to Rio's story now.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Back with another chapter! I had no idea whether to include that Chelsea chapter or not but the second the idea hit me I couldn't resist. Sorry if anyone hasn't played any of her games and was completely lost... she's actually a lot of fun to write though. Although I do feel bad for Vaughn. Anyway, thanks for still reading!**

* * *

The shadows twisted around her, shifting in shape and size too fast for her to make out any of her surroundings. Leaf litter snapped and crunched underfoot as she stumbled aimlessly in a dizzy circle.

She looked down at the useless flashlight in her hand, even an object held so close, she could only make out the fuzzy figure by the light of the stars. Why did it have to choose now of all times to go out? How did she even get to be in this situation?

**Earlier…**

Walking into the restaurant, Rio let her eyes skim the crowded room in surprise. Since she had built the restaurant and the famous gourmet moved in, the establishment had quickly become a popular haunt for the townsfolk.

That being said she had never seen this many people here before. Actually, there wasn't even this many people in the village!

The newest addition to town, Michelle the Magician twirled her baton twice before catching it and conjuring up a couple of doves. The spectators closest ooo'd and ahh'd. Rio smiled, so that's the reason for the sudden burst in business.

It was nice to see Clement was having such success and the tourism would surely benefit the village.

The regulars sat a little further from all of the action. Neil was at a small individual table not looking at all thrilled by the restaurant's new found popularity. He took a sip of his coffee irritably.

Allen and Iroha were a little farther still at a large table. Spotting Rio at the same time as she did them, they waved her over.

"About time farmer." Allen said in annoyance, "You're not the kind who gets to be fashionably late. Not in those clothes."

"Uh, yeah sorry." Rio apologized, "It's just been so hot this summer, it's hard to keep up the pace I had in the spring."

"I understand." Iroha nodded solemnly "The forge has been nearly unbearable."

Allen snapped his attention back to the blacksmith, "Don't just go using Rio's entrance as a convenient topic change!"

"What were you guys talking about?" Asked Rio curiously.

"Rod." Allen smirked.

Iroha gave him an indignant look, "_He _was talking about Rod."

"I just want you to be more honest with yourself." Allen shrugged, "He's my best friend, I can easily hook you two up."

Iroha turned a red that was not contributed to by the heat. "N-not necessary!"

"Speaking of the little devil." Allen said, spotting a certain pet vendor entering through the front. He looked perplexed for a minute at a lack of empty tables but Allen called him over and he grinned.

"Hey guys!" Said Rod jogging over, pausing as his hand brushed over the back of the chair. "Actually mind if I invite Neil over too?" He asked glancing over to the animal dealer.

"_Why?"_ Asked Allen.

"He's actually a pretty cool dude when you give him a chance, I'm trying to get him to come more out of his shell." Rod grinned, "Though he's hating every second of it."

Allen shrugged, "I you_ can_ get him to come over fine."

"Awesome!" Said Rod before rushing over to where Neil sat.

They watched curiously as he began to chant animatedly to his work buddy. At first Neil seemed almost happy to see him but as Rod pointed over to their table he grimaced and shook his head.

Dramatically the orange haired man lowered onto one knee and clasped his hands together in a pleading expression. Neil gave in after noticing the attention they were attracting and gathered his things, following Rod back to the table.

Rod took the seat between Iroha and Allen, causing the blacksmith to grow yet another shade of red.

Neil slumped down directly across from Rio as everyone mumbled their "hey"s and "hello"s.

Rod glanced at Neil expectantly. 'Go on' he whispered not intending to be loud enough for everyone else to hear. 'they won't bite, just start a conversation with someone.'

Neil scowled, "I think you're misunderstanding somethin' here! I'm not some sca-" He stopped as he registered the expression on Rod's face which looked remarkably similar to a dog waiting on its bone. One could almost see his non-existent tail wagging.

In that instant Rio realized how Rod was able to get the uncooperative man to go along with all his plans. Neil sighed, unable to resist the puppy-dog eyes and turned to Rio, who he considered the least objectionable conversation partner.

"How's the farm treating you?" Neil asked begrudgingly. Rod lit up with delight like a mother bird seeing her chick fly for the first time.

"Good." Said Rio with a stiff smile. Ordinarily she would have said more, but under this heavy, forced atmosphere it was all she could let out.

Neil nodded once and they then proceeded to look in two different directions. He took another sip of his coffee, dissipating the air of awkwardness and Rio quickly turned back to the group.

"So what were you guys talking about?" Rod asked.

"Nothing really." Allen said, glancing at Iroha slyly. The blacksmith sighed. "Just how slowly the service here is today." He said in annoyance. "You think they'd try to keep their regulars happy."

"Well where else are we going to go?" Rio said, "In the end it's the visitors they want to please."

Finally the waitress hurried over. Felicity, just a little more frazzled than usual, fumbled with her notepad, opening it to a blank page. This was the first time Rio had ever seen her have to write down the orders.

"Sorry guys." She said, pulling back a stray strand of hair, "What can I get you?"

"Just a round of coffee." Allen said and she nodded.

"Coffee, ok, that easy to remember."

"Are you alright?" Asked Iroha in concern, "It's not good to overwork yourself."

To this the table had to roll their eyes. Iroha had after all, been taking numerous visits the clinic in the last week for work-related injuries and stresses.

"I'm just fine." Felicity laughed, "The lunch rush will die down eventually." She sounded somewhat uncertain and Rio checked her watch, it was already two and the place was still packed.

An arm wrapped around her shoulders much to everyone's surprise as the last youth of the village made her appearance. "Is everyone here but me?" Asked Tina in mock hurt before quickly pulling out a chair and joining in.

"Are you done your work for the day?" Asked Iroha as the waitress hurried off to get their drinks.

"Just one more delivery I have to make." Tina grinned and then paused. "Actually." She said thoughtfully and quickly shoved an envelope at Rio.

The farmer took it in surprised and the news reporter/ mail girl beamed. "Now I'm done!" She announced.

Rio turned the letter over in her hands and, noticing the name of the sender, ripped it open immediately.

"Whose it from Rio?" Asked Tina, ignoring any matters of privacy. It was a surprise she didn't just read everyone's mail.

"My best friend and college roommate." She responded absentmindedly skimming the contents. "Oh Goddess." She said in alarm.

"What is it?" Asked Iroha in worry.

"Her boat to the city capsized. She's one of a hand full of known survivors who washed up on an abandoned island… I had wondered why I hadn't heard from her."

"Harvest King! Is she alright?" Asked Rod.

Rio read a little further and nearly snorted. "Yeah. She's 'alright' ." She glanced up from the letter to address Neil, "Know a guy named Vaughn?"

"Yeah." He nodded disinterestedly.

"I hope he's not a good friend of yours." She smiled wryly.

"Not really." He said.

"Good, 'cause Chelsea's got the poor sod in her clutches. Once you become her plaything there's no getting out of it." Rio giggled at the memories of her friend. "Honestly, poor guy." She repeated solemnly.

Neil looked a little concerned at this but obviously wasn't close enough to his fellow dealer to enquire further.

Felicity returned with a tray of coffees placing one in front of each person before dashing off. again to complete the next order. Rio glanced down and then held out her hand to stop the waitress but she was already gone. It seemed she'd have to endure her drink with just one sugar.

Before anyone could ask what was wrong, two sugar packets slid across the table to her. She looked at them blankly before connecting their path of trajectory back to Neil.

"How did you-?" She asked in wonder.

He suddenly realized his mistake and looked away before glancing back defiantly. "I overheard you ordering once. Don't get the wrong idea, I only remember because I was so utterly revolted." His nose wrinkled in disgust.

"Not a sugar fan?" Allen guessed.

"No." Neil shivered.

Rio looked away to hide her embarrassment, twirling her bangs. She had never drank coffee around Neil since coming to the village so he was remembering this detail from….

She frowned. She was still looking at him and coffee-shop man as two different people so although it was normal for Neil to be disgusted by her I kind of hurt to think the mysterious guy at the café thought she was gross.

_What a weird line of thinking. _She marvelled.

"_Anyway." _Said Tina, "I'm really glad everyone's here. This makes things easier for me!"

"How so?" Asked Iroha.

"Well, summer's the time to do exciting things! Live life while we're still young! I thought we should all do something together!"

"That sounds like a great idea! What did you have in mind?" Asked Rio.

"A test of courage! Tonight!" Tina announced.

All colour drained from the already pale blonde's face.

"Awesome!" Exclaimed Rod, his enthusiasm already winning over almost everyone else.

"I'm in." Said Allen.

"I've already talked to Felicity and Michelle, they're good with it. Plus of course you'll be joining us Rio, you're always all-for any sort of event." Said Tina.

Rio nodded deafly, as always, unable to disappoint. She did _not_ want to do this. ANYTHING but this!

Rod just needed to send the puppy dog eyes to Iroha and Neil and they quickly caved as well.

"Great! See you guys tonight outside the forest! 9:00 sharp!" Tina grinned.

_Great_. Rio gulped.

**oOoOo**

And so that is exactly how Rio ended up stranded in the forest at night. Somehow she had broken off from Allen and Iroha. Her heart felt like it was beating in her head. She placed a hand over her mouth and nose just to confirm she was still breathing. She was, but it felt like a plastic bag was drawn over her head and there simply was not enough air.

She was hyperventilating she quickly diagnosed.

She had taken first aid courses in the past for various things so she knew what to do. Putting one hand over her stomach and the other over her ribs she breathed in and out through her diaphragm deeply ten times until she felt a little calmer.

She was not good with this sort of thing. Of course she knew there was no such thing as monsters or ghosts but it was not difficult imagining one slowly rising from the darkness. Or one of those internet creatures like that long one… uh, 'slenderman'. Her heart sped up and she shook her head.

She had to think logically. If anything she was more likely to be attacked by a bear or wolf… in which she'd still be powerless. RATIONAL THINKING WAS NOT HELPING HER!

She spun around once again but without a flashlight would not be able to see any reflective eyes.

From the darkness something clamped onto her shoulder and she froze not even able to scream.

"Rio!" Said a voice. The person walked around to face her and turned on their flashlight.

Rod laughed. "I thought I could sneak up on you and scare you but of course you would be a hard one to crack."

She was still rendered completely catatonic.

"You're even out here all alone in the dark. It makes me happy to know there's someone so reliable in the village!" He exclaimed.

Finally gaining back some movement she nodded her head slowly.

"Well," He said, "I'm going to go try to sneak up on someone else. See ya!"

With that he sprinted off and she fell to her knees weeping softly. She was just so scared and now that she knew there were people out there waiting to frighten her it was even worse. She couldn't go home though. She didn't know the way in the dark and either way, didn't want to disappear without telling anyone and cause trouble.

She stood back up on shaky legs. Wrapping her arms around herself protectively. She'd just have to wait until she saw the lights of someone else's flashlight.

**oOoOo**

"Where did Rio go?" Asked Iroha in concern.

Allen shrugged. "Who knows, maybe a bear did her in, could have been aliens too. They like farmers right?" He put a hand to his forehead in woe, "If only she had heeded my fashion advice and decided to dress normally she could have been saved."

"That isn't funny." Iroha scowled. "Don't joke about her getting hurt."

"Relax. She's plenty capable on her own, it's not like we'll find her if we specifically search for her. There's plenty of people out here with flashlights she's probably already ran into someone else." He said.

"True…" Iroha agreed.

"I'm more worried about you." Sighed Allen.

"Me?" Asked the blacksmith.

"I know I'm irresistible but why on Earth are you wasting this unique opportunity with me?" He asked, hold the light in the crook of his arm to remove his glasses and clean them.

"Pardon?" Iroha asked.

"You should be with Rod, clinging to his arm- 'kyaa! Rod I'm so scared don't let go!'" He said in the most nasally girl's voice. "Of course that's the most transparent seduction trick in the book but Rod's dumb enough to fall for the cliché's.

A rabbit scampered out in front of them and Iroha grabbed Allen's arm in a death-grip. He winced, "See? You're a natural. Just not so tight."

"I was just alarmed." Iroha glowered, "I wasn't trying out your ridiculous tactics." She ran a hand through her hair. "Why are you even so concerned?"

"Always happy to help out two friends on their path for love."

"No not that." Iroha shook her head, "Why are you still sticking to Rio and I? We're obviously not your usual type for friends. Before I just thought it was because we were the only other young people in the village but now there's plenty. Including your childhood friend."

Allen scoffed, "I'm offended. I liked you two, cave women like yourselves are interesting to be around at least."

She nodded, still not looking quite convinced.

"Look, I'll drop the Rod thing." He conceited. "But just know that when you want help- and you will be wanting help eventually, I'll be around."

"Thanks I suppose."

**oOoOo**

A shuffling in the bushes behind her caused Rio to wheel around. There was no light- and no light meant it wasn't a person- but then it couldn't just be a little bunny or something it was too big a rustle- ohGodessohGodessohGodess. She was about to get eaten by something in the middle of the forest and no one was ever going to find her body!

All her fears rushed through her mind, werewolves, normal wolves, shark-work hybrids, slenderman, Big Bird- that guy always seemed shifty- who was she kidding? The whole Sesame Street gang was shifty.

When the bushes remained silent though she let out a sigh of relief.

Immediately following a figure crashed through and she screamed.

The farmer fell onto the cold hard ground not even registering the pain and she frantically crawled backwards only halting as she hit a tree and was stopped in her tracks. The dark figure approached her slowly and tears welled up in her eyes. She fell forwards onto her hands and began to dry-heave without actually throwing up. "Pl-" She heaved, "Please-" "Please don't hurt me!" Her voice cracked in terror.

The figure stopped.

Then the entire world light up in blinding light and she flinched. Blinking rapidly and shielding her eyes.

"Rio?" The voice asked in disbelief.

Of course.

Of course it was Neil.

Still not completely recovered from her panic attack she huddled up into a ball.

He cursed under his breath, muttering something blasphemous to the Harvest Goddess for making _him_ the one to walk into this mess of a farmer.

"S-sorry. I'm not good with these things." She explained after a long minute and standing.

"No kidding." He answered dryly.

He watched as she continued to shake and ruefully inched over not even a fraction closer than he had to be to stretch out and awkwardly pat the brim over her hat. "It's going to be okay." He said in a strained voice.

Rio blinked at him for a moment, then couldn't help but let out a "pfft" despite herself. "That was so pathetic it actually worked." She said shaking her hand.

"I'm not really good with these things." He said.

"No kidding." She smirked, still a little shaken.

"What were you even doing out here all on your own in the dark?" He asked, "The forest isn't exactly the safest place to be at night let alone… alone."

"I got separated and then my flashlight died." She admitted flinching at a noise further out in the woods.

He sighed and turned around, "Let's go." He said.

She paused. His arm was ever so slightly extended to the side, hand open. If she didn't know better she'd think he was offering his hand to her.

"Rio." He prompted when she didn't move.

She decided to go for it, reaching out to grab it.

"Wha-what are you doin'?" He muttered but made no move to remove his hand from hers. Instead they began to move.

"You're hand's cold." Rio commented.

"Then let go." He snapped but somehow she could tell he didn't mean it. "I'm always cold." He admitted after a short pause. "Doctors say it's nothing weird though, maybe bad circulation, maybe my body type…"

"Ah." She nodded more distracted by the moving shadows caused by the flashlight.

Neil noticed.

"Uh. Would it be better if I turned the light off?" He asked.

"But then we wouldn't see where we're going." Rio said, not that she had much clue now.

"I don't need it." He said. "I know the forest better than my front yard. This way we won't get ambushed by anyone either."

"Ok." Rio nodded.

The light went off and they were plunged back into darkness. Somehow, it did help some. She just took a deep breath in and focused on Neil's hand wrapped around hers.

Truth be told there wasn't much structure to this test of courage, just a bunch of people walking around the forest at night. Neil sighed, this was clearly not how he intended to spend his Saturday night, he only got two non-work nights after all.

They had been walking in silence for quite a while without finding any sign of someone else. Rio followed the blond in mixed fascination. He wasn't exaggerating his familiarity with the forest. They strode through confidently, skirting around brambles and low bushes that he couldn't have possibly seen in the dark.

"How's Lait?" He finally asked.

"You remember the name of my cow?" Rio asked in surprise.

"I know the names and faces of any animal I've worked with." He said. "No matter how short the time they're with you, if you take care of animals, they stick in your memory. It's the same way with people isn't it? You don't easily forget someone you've spent the day with."

"Ah. I see, that makes sense. She's good, she's a really good cow- I think. To be honest I haven't really seen enough other cows to compare." She said.

"Cows get lonely you know.." He said, "You might want to invest in another barn animal I'd be sure to hook you up with the best."

"Maybe I will." Rio said thoughtfully. "How well did you know Lait? Like how does the whole animal dealer thing work? Do you get them all from somewhere and just bring them over to sell them or-?"

"I raised your cow from a calf." Neil admitted. "I sell a mix of livestock I've raised directly and ones I haven't but I always give newbie ranchers my own. On one hand I hate to see them go off to homes I don't know are deserving or not but at the same time, I trust the ones I've raised to be easy on beginners."

Rio unconsciously tightened her grip on his hand, Neil was surprising easy to talk to as long as it was on topics he cared about.

Suddenly there was flashes of light up ahead. Neil tore his hand away from her in an instant, a moment before, "Oh? Is that Neil and Rio?"

The rest of the village youth gathered around them.

"We were starting to get worried." Said Felicity. "We couldn't find you two anywhere on the trail."

Allen bonked Rod on the back of the head and the boy cringed. Somehow it didn't seem like his first whack of the night. "We heard this idiot found you and then left you out on your own again."

"I didn't know you guys had lost her!" Rod protested.

"You're so cool Rio~" Said Michelle. "The woods are creepy at night I don't know how you could keep your head out on your own in the dark." _She really didn't._

"Anyway." Said Tina, clearing her throat. "This was just the beginning! The night's going to get even spookier from here. Time for phase two!"

_For the love of all that is holy, please no. _Rio thought, squeezing her eyes shut.

The voice beside her grunted in disapproval. "This is stupid, I've played along long enough. I'm going home now." Said Neil.

"Neil here's got to get her beauty sleep to keep up her sunny disposition." Allen told them all sarcastically.

"Glad y'all understand," Said Neil, not playing into the taunt. "Are you coming?" He asked Rio.

"What?" She blinked.

"Did you already forget?!" He snapped. "You were just asking to borrow that animal care book idiot. You said that you needed it 'right away'."

He faced her raising an eyebrow that only she could see in the dark when he realized she still wasn't getting it.

"OH." She said in realization. "Right the animal book, that book on animals… how did I forget?" She turned to the group, "Sorry guys, Lait's been acting weird recently and I have to get to the bottom of it sooner rather than later. I'm sure you don't mind if I check out early right?"

Everyone muttered their begrudging acceptance to her excuse and the two headed off on their way.

"Thanks." She said as he led her out of the forest. "I don't think I could have handled a step two. Step one nearly killed me."

"No problem." He muttered as they ended up in the village square.

The topic seemed to be dropped but she stopped as they reached his house. "Really Neil, that was so cool of you. Thanks. You're a really good guy."

He looked away unnecessarily as he felt the heat hit his face. It would have been too dark for her to tell anyway. "Like I said, no problem… you're uh, ok going the rest of the way on your own?"

Rio nodded. "Yeah… See you soon?"

"Yeah. See ya." He said.

With that Rio began to head back to her farmhouse. She sighed. There was no way she was getting a good night's sleep tonight.


	10. Chapter 10

The farmer sighed, retreating to the barn seeking the sweet relief of the shade. _What I wouldn't do for some AC_. She thought wistfully as she wedged her sweat-dampened stenson off her head to fan herself.

When it didn't do her much good other than waft hot air at her she tossed it aside and slumped onto the nearest hay bale.

It was one in a long row of scorchers that summer, the heat and the sun had her hair frizzing and her skin reddening in ugly, painful splotches.

Her animals were all in the barn as well, doing nothing to cool down the room. It was simply too hot for them to even be enticed to go outside. She couldn't remember the last time it rained and the river across the bottom of the farm was beginning to lower significantly, hopefully this dry spell couldn't go on much longer.

She was almost positive after a day in the sun she was beginning to _hear_ the heat, if that was at all possible. She closed her eyes and leaned back ignoring the way the dry straw poked at her through the thin material of her shirt.

It was in the way the air moved, not in wind but rippling waves, hypnotic and dizzying against the screech of summer insects. "Bzzaahhh." She mumbled in mimicry. "Brrrrzzzzzhh?" She tried again.

It was becoming quite clear she was not going to do any more work. She had finished the necessary farm chores and there was no reason she couldn't take the afternoon off. _I deserve it,_ she reasoned to herself.

Over the past two weeks she had been a machine somehow building a tailor's and a travel agency bringing in four new residents on top of finishing planting all of her summer crops AND completing a daily mining and foraging circuit in the forest.

She hand heaved herself up from the hay and returned to her house. First things first, she NEEDED to peel herself from those overalls.

She slipped into a gauze cami and her favourite cargo shorts before collapsing like a starfish on her bed, allowing her body to air out. She moved her limbs around in bliss as the cooler fabric beneath her absorbed some of the heat.

There was a tentative knock at the door and Rio switched to a slightly more dignified position, shuffling onto her back before propping herself up. "Door's open!" She called.

Neil peeked his head in. "Hey." He said. "Just wanted you to know the feed's been delivered to your coop."

"Thanks." She grinned. This was all a formality of course. Since that night in the forest something had shifted in their relationship. They were almost like… friends. In the past Neil had never found it necessary to personally update her on the status of her feed bin. Though this had somehow warped into a routine. "There's milk in the fridge if you want some." Rio offered, as she did every other week and as per usual, Neil nodded gratefully and poured himself a glass, taking a seat at her dining table.

He angled his chair to face slightly to the bed. Taking a sip he nodded. "Quality's gone up again." He commented.

"It's only 'cause of all the amazing advice you've been giving lately." She responded.

He almost smiled and they fell into silence. Usually this silence would fall over the rest of his visit and she'd find a magazine or something but today a question was burning in her mind. "How on Earth are you managing the heat in that coat? I feel like I'm boiling just looking at you."

He shrugged and shed the coat. It didn't help. She gawked at the long-sleeved black shirt underneath. "Harvest Goddess." She said in disbelief, shaking her head.

"I've told you before." He said. "I'm always cool."

"You can't be." She said, hopping off her bed, the old frame creaked. "Not today. There's no way you could be feeling cold."

"Well I don't _feel_ cold, I just don't feel overly hot either." He explained.

Rio grabbed his hand despite his protests. "Oh my gosh. You're like an ice pack." She said in wonder.

He glowered, "I'm not _that_ cold. You're exaggerating."

"Are you even a mammal?" She asked.

He tried to tug his hand away but was unsuccessful. "You sayin' I'm cold-blooded or something?"

She wondered for a moment if she had hit a sore spot. She should probably apologize. At the same time, some of her old roommate had rubbed off on her and she couldn't resist teasing the blond who finally seemed like the uncomfortable one for once.

"No." She said with a saccharine and hopefully innocent infliction to her voice, bringing his hand up to cup her cheek. "But this sure is soothing on a hot day." She closed her eyes seemingly in serenity but more so to mask her embarrassment. Chelsea was much better at this than her.

His hand heated up very quickly and her lids re-opened to view him looking away with a furious blush. Finally, he managed to tear his wrist away. "I let you hold my hand once in the forest 'cause you were so freaked out. That doesn't mean you now have 24/7 access." He grumbled before rising and swiping his coat from the chair.

Maybe she shouldn't have teased him. She hoped he wasn't about to storm off, their new routine was fragile enough as it was, one less-than-pleasant encounter could cause it to crumble. Neil certainly was stubborn enough she realized with dread but when he opened the door he was stopped in his tracks.

She watched curiously until she heard a tiny "Hiya Neil!" A face popped out from around him, "Hi Rio!"

"Hey! Hina!" she smiled. Hina was one of the newest villagers, daughter to the two travel agents, and an adorable little blonde.

"Wanna play?" She asked.

Rio paused. Well it's not like she had work, "Sure."

Hina stepped in and Neil stepped around to pass her on his way out. She caused him a second pause when she reached for the hem of his coat. "You don't wanna play too?" She asked innocently.

"No." He said gruffly.

"Oh." She said in unconcealed disappointment. For whatever reason Hina had taken a shine to Neil, often visiting him and Rod at their animal stalls. He bit his lip and clenched and unclenched his fist, willing himself to take that final step out the door.

"Fine." He finally conceited ruefully.

The girl cheered and crawled up his back. "Wha-?! Now what are you doin'?" He exclaimed in surprise.

"Piggy back! Rod always gives me piggybacks!" She grinned.

Rio watched the girl triumphantly gripping the sullen animal dealer's back. Finally he just completely gave in. "You know what?" He said.

"What?" Asked Hina.

"I can do one better than Rod." With that he hoisted her up on his shoulders and the girl squealed before reaching up and grazing the ceiling with her fingers.

"You're really a force to be reckoned with Hina." Rio laughed.

"Why?"

"You can even conquer a bad boy like Neil."

"Neil's not bad!" Hina scolded sternly. "I wouldn't let him play with us if he were. I promised my dad I would never 'go off with a bad boy'" She frowned looking slightly crestfallen. "You know what I found out?"

"What?" Asked Rio.

"Tony's a bad boy. He put a bug on his mom's pillow. I can't play with him anymore." She sighed.

"Aww, all boys do that sort of thing at that age." Rio tried to reason, "That doesn't make him bad, don't stop playing with him because of that."

Hina wasn't paying attention, she pointed to the door, "Onwards Neil-horsey!"

He grimaced and then walked out the door, Hina looked back at Rio, motioning her to follow.

They walked through the farm past the animals and then through Rio's immense gardens, past luscious rose bushes and quiet patches of chamomile.

"Your gardens are so pretty Rio!" The girl smiled from atop her stead.

"Thank you."

"Is that lavender?" Asked the girl, pointing a little ahead.

"Good eye." Rio praised her.

"My mom grows it outside the house. She likes to put herbs in our food. Isn't so cool how they're kind of flower like, and you can put them in your food? They're like magical flowers!" She threw up her arms and Neil had to tighten his grip on her legs and fumble to keep her upright.

"Do you want me to drop you?" He growled.

"That's true." Rio said thoughtfully to Hina's previous comment.

Neil sighed before finally giving her gardens a good look, "You sure plant a lot, and I guess its nicer this way but economically and time-wise, isn't it easier to plant everything in patches? Like roses with roses, whatever with whatever instead of having it all mixed up?"

"Yeah but I also make money now from garden tours, Dunhill proposed them awhile back as a monthly thing but I was so successful in the spring that I get a lot of requests and school trips booking tours- a wedding's even coming here in a couple days for its pictures" Rio explained, "So they're more impressive this way."

"Do you make a lot of money doing them?" Hina asked.

"Well… not really, I get offered some extra sometimes but I turn it down, I want my tours to be accessible to everyone, so I only charge a little, not enough to make a lot of a profit." Rio smiled shyly, "I want to give even the kids from poorer schools and families the chance to be able to come and learn to appreciate gardening."

She caught a look from Neil and frowned, "What?"

"Nothing..."

When they reached the East farm area, Neil let her crawl down.

"Hmm" Hina hummed, "This would be a cool place to build a snowman in the winter. Or have a picnic."

"Maybe we should do that sometime." Rio suggested.

The girl nodded enthusiastically.

With an attention span appropriate for her age, she switched focuses, cartwheeling in the open area.

Neil looked a little perplexed. "It's a girl thing." Rio explained to him. "Open spaces immediately warrant spontaneously breaking out into cartwheels and summersaults."

"Can you cartwheel Rio?" Asked Hina.

"I used to be able to…" Rio responded doubtfully. "Only one way to finds out." She shrugged before stepping away from the pair and rubbing her hands together.

She started off with a sideways one and when that was successful, she went for a frontal. She turned back to them in glee. "It worked! I still got it!"

"Wow." Hina clapped, "I was surprised."

"Don't underestimate me! I took gymnastics as a kid… granted I was only in for a year but I was the best cartwheeler in second grade." Rio said cheeky grin.

"Can you do one Neil?" Asked Hina.

"No." He said.

"I can teach you." The girl said excitedly and he looked horrified. Luckily, they were interrupted.

"Hina?" Toni had appeared with an unusually downcast expression.

"Toni." She acknowledged stiffly.

"I told my mom I was sorry… I won't prank her anymore if you really don't like it…" He said this part regretful of what he was promising to give up.

Hina nodded. "Good."

"Can we play together again now?" He asked.

The blonde looked a little unconvinced and turned to Rio for confirmation. Rio nodded. This didn't seem enough for her though so she cast an unsure glance at Neil.

He sighed and bent down next to her mumbling a couple words, then a little unsure his hand hovered behind her until he finally, gave her shoulder one solid pat.

Hina grinned at him before skipping over to Toni's side, "Okay, let's go."

Toni returned the grin and they ran off.

"What did you tell her?" Rio asked.

"I don't know… just that Toni was a good guy. Good people can do bad things now and then but his pranks are harmless, it's important to give people chances- things like that." Neil said. "…and that friends are important."

"Hypocrite." Rio smirked.

"I never claimed to think they were unimportant, I just didn't have anyone around growing up, but I have Rod now… and you." He admitted. "Goddess knows I've said a lot of stupid things to both of you. I'm probably on my fifteenth chance or so."

A happy warmth flooded her systems, collecting and swelling in her chest. She was honestly surprised, but having already teased/embarrassed him once too many times for the day, and seeing the nervous glances he was casting at her as he awaited a response, she decided to let him off easy- playing down his confession of friendship. "Nah, only your twelfth." Rio said dryly.

"You're actually keeping tabs?" He asked in surprise.

"Not really, that's just the number of times I've screamed into pillow since I came here." She said sheepishly.

"Ah… sorry I guess." He said quietly, jamming his hands in his pockets.

"It was usually my fault too so… Sorry as well." Rio scratched her nose.

Dispelling the gloomy atmosphere, Rio grinned, "What's the matter Neil? Upset Hina left before she could teach you to cartwheel? I mean, I guess I could-"

"No." Neil said flatly before cracking a half-smile. He coughed "Well I was supposed to see Rod now so…"

"Yeah…"

"See ya."

"See ya."

He stopped and glanced back, "There was something I wanted to say earlier but let it go... but I think I really should say it after all."

"What?" Asked Rio.

"Uh, just because I should say it doesn't mean I know how..." He admitted and paused to form his next words with a thoughtful expression. "You can be a little _too_ nice"

"What do you mean?"

"The garden tour prices... playing with Hina when you finally got an afternoon off. Plus most importantly those restoration plans... Take care of yourself okay?" He asked sincerely.

Rio grinned smugly, "What? No 'don't get the wrong idea!' or 'I'm only saying this because you're important to the town!'"

Neil scratched his nose. "Nah, I kind of just told you in a more round-about way but, we're friends... so I really do care. I don't ever want to have to see you suffering for your being kind. Not that I'm saying stop being nice of course, it's one of the cool things about you after all."

"O-oh." She was speechless.

With that he had turned back on his way and she watched him go. Finally she thought she was really beginning to appreciate Neil for being Neil. He wasn't some future doctor or cool criminologist or any of the other things she used to fantasize, but something so much better. He was her gruff but kind animal dealer and more importantly, her friend.

She was really glad that she finally got to speaking to him after all.

* * *

**You know, these fluffy cheesy lines Neil keeps spewing? Last second indulgences that I throw in a second before uploading, every time. Anyway, I think I might start reader-responses back up again since I kind of miss writing them but maybe I'll just do them every couple chapters for the last couple chapters.. Afterall, The main reason I stopped was I felt my answers were getting kind of repetitive and worn, this way I'll have a lot to respond to all at once.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Don't hate me for this.**

* * *

The morning started out as it had the last couple days, in complete disappointment. Like a child on Christmas morning Rio had scrambled to the window and threw open the curtains. _Mockingly dazzling _sunlight trickled in. It appeared that, once again, no miracle rain had fallen overnight dampening the dry earth. She abruptly shut them and prepared herself for another long grueling day.

If possible, it was hotter outside than it had been the day before. Heat radiated off the rock exposed from the animal's most trod-on areas and when she opened the wide barn doors, the animals looked at her as if she was nuts. Again, they would not be going outside.

She provided her wilting plants with as much water as she could afford and with a heavy heart, poked up at the underbelly of a leaf, finding it lacking the turgidity to keep it from sagging like a piece of cloth on either side of where she propped it up.

She stood back up and tore off the scarf around her neck in frustration. Nothing was going right at the moment, this was not how her first year into the working world should be going.

Rio Gold's crops did not _wilt. _Rio Gold worked harder than anyone and for the first time in her life, the work was showing no pay-off.

She couldn't bear to look another second at the gardens behind her that against all rationality, she couldn't help but look at as her own failure. Instead she shoved her watering can back in her backpack, chucked it into the entrance of the front door and marched to Clement's where, as with every other lunch break, a red head and blacksmith were surely waiting.

She slogged in and sat at the table in the corner, no longer bothering to make excuses for her increasingly tardy arrivals. They already knew why by now. She ordered her lunch, the cheapest option on the menu and Iroha glanced at her in worry. "You've been ordering the Tomato Risotto a lot recently."

"I have to be economical." The farmer replied simply, "Believe me, I'm sick of it but if I can't get a good harvest this season, I need to save every penny I can get."

"It's also the least healthy option on the menu." Iroha pointed out, "and with all this extra work you're doing to maintain your crops and make money you need all the stamina you can get. You've been losing a lot of weight recently, you look tired."

"You know I can always treat you Rio, my salon is doing _fabulously, _it's the least I can do." Allen said haughtily.

The food arrived at the perfect time, in time for Rio to gaze upon the plate she had been eating all summer and she almost took him up on his offer. Just the sight of the dish was starting to make her gag a little. Instead she shook her head, "No, I couldn't ask you to do that." She had always been and will always be one hundred percent self-reliant. She never made trouble for others.

"What have you been eating for dinner?" Asked the blacksmith.

_Mint and Mushrooms. _

"Edible things." Rio replied stiffly.

Iroha and Allen exchanged a look, but didn't comment further when the front door chimed and Rod came bounding in, zoning in on the three immediately like a dog spotting his friends at the park. He sped over, "Hey guys! How are you doing?"

Neil dragged himself in and over a second later, like the tired owner or worn-out parent of an overactive child.

He nodded at them all begrudgingly.

"It's still too hot!" Allen complained dramatically throwing back his head in response to his best friend's previous question.

The two took a seat as Iroha just shook her head slightly. Ordinarily she might have quipped to the stylist with a complete and utter lack of sympathy that at least _he_ worked in air conditioning. However, with Rod around, her dry retorts were rendered mute.

"At least you get to work inside, the rest of us are suffering." Rod said seemingly echoing Iroha's sentiments. She hid her smile.

Rio frowned. She didn't like this submissive version of her friend who couldn't say the things she wanted- but even more so, she was never going to get noticed by Rod at this rate.

"Neil and I are out in those stalls all day!" He said, draping an arm around the blond beside him. Neil cringed and quickly shrugged the limb off as if it were poisonous.

Rod pretended to be offended, "Why won't you ever let me bromance on you? It's just my way of showing my love, yet you always push me away."

Neil sighed and muttered down at the table, "I'm not into the touchy touchy stuff."

They were interrupted again as Felicity came again to take the newcomer's orders. Allen beckoned the waitress over and whispered to her conspiratorially. She grinned at him while he winked before nodding once and prancing back off to the kitchen. Rio didn't have much time to consider that strange exchange since, as soon as she left, Allen picked the line of conversation back up.

"I may not be _out_ in the heat, but do you have any idea what this hot, dryness is doing to people's hair? Goddess you're all hideous! I have to soil my eyes looking at you!" Allen exclaimed.

Rio unconsciously ran her fingers through her hair. It felt rough and frizzy… he wasn't wrong she guessed.

The two friends continued to prod at each other with cutting but friendly comments and the food and drink for the two animal workers soon arrived.

A huge hunk of chocolate cake was also plunked in front of the farmer. She gulped.

"I uh… I didn't order this." She struggled to admit, unable to pry her eyes from the delicious and moist slice in front of her.

"A lovely gentleman, bought it for you." Felicity winked.

Rio turned to Allen in dismay, "I told you I couldn't possibly-"

"When was the last time you had anything sweet?" He asked slyly, "That intense sweet tooth of yours… it must be practically driving you insane with desire."

She gulped a second time.

"Just look at it isn't it a fine specimen? I particularly like the way Clement drenches in in caramel drizzle." He looked to Iroha.

"I am not particularly for or against cakes but I do have to admit it looks enticing." Iroha played along, "It looks like the kind the tingles in your mouth with sugary goodness. A sweet symphony of flavour."

Neil looked a little green.

"Stop it guys." Rod whined with puppy dog eyes, clearly not understanding the objective, "You're talking weird and making me really want cake."

"Then eat cake." Allen snapped sidelong to him, "Hate to break it to you princess but you've already lost you dainty girlish figure." With that he returned his focus to Rio

She shuddered once before bowing her head in defeat. "I concede." She said shamefully, "Thanks a lot Allen…"

She took a bite and teared up on the spot, the cake all it was built up to be and more.

She had lost herself until an amused voice said, "I guess it's to your liking?"

Rio glanced up at Allen tearfully nodding her head.

She excused herself to pull herself back together with a short visit to the washroom but as she stood there was another chime as the door again opened.

Allen paused for a heartbeat before, like lightning, in an instant too fast for anyone to process, grabbed Rio by her wrist and pulled.

A lot happened to the farmer in that instant. She remembered a hand closing around her wrist, the feeling of air as she was whizzed around, then the lips of a man with distinctively red hair were on hers moving quickly and urgently with a suspicious amount of skill. All jaws in the restaurant dropped.

In stories, they say that a kiss is something magical. Strong enough to break spells and lift curses, Tender or compassionate enough to make one's mind melt until they lose track of their senses. It was then that Rio realized with some disappointment, that is all a lie. _WhatWhatWhatWhat? _Repeated through her head as she tried to understand what exactly led up to her standing right there with her lips locked with the town stylist.

She stepped back in alarm but he covered her hesitance up, stepping forward in time with her and dipping her from her waist, one hand coming up to cradle and hold her head in place so she could not escape. The other trailed down her back which arched in objection to shy from the daring hand. Though it could have just as easily been interpreted as a positive response. She gasped and he took this opportunity to deepen the kiss further. At this point, not even Rio could resist for long, the stylist tended to have that effect.

Camellia quickly covered her daughter's eyes.

Finally he parted from her, still holding her to him seductively and licked his upper lip before glancing over as if noticing someone for the first time. A woman no one had ever seen before had watched this all transpire furiously. The farmer was all but unconscious in his arms. "Giselle." He commented pulling the limp Rio even closer, "What a surprise meeting you here."

The woman named Giselle swished her long shining magazine-like locks, "Allen, darling. You aren't an easy one to find."

He shrugged with a slight smile, closing his eyes sympathetically, "It's a shame though- as you can see I've already found my flame." Rio snapped out of her trance and blushed. "My nymph." He grinned staring deeply into his 'lover's' eyes.

"Her?" The woman scoffed, "Like I'll believe that. Isn't she a little _green_ for a man of your expertise? You barely kissed her and she's scared stiff." The onlookers paled at the thought of Allen's 'casual kiss'.

"Believe what you want." He said putting a hand to his hip, releasing his support on the blonde.

"Even if you are together, I doubt it'll be long, you've never held onto a woman longer than a week. I can wait." She mirrored his pose.

Rio stumbled around aimlessly and he pulled her back over, "I'm not so sure about that this time," He looked at the farmer through half lidded eyes, "I think I've finally found my Cinderella, hmm princess?"

Rio nodded robotically, despite her best intentions her efforts were clearly not enough and the woman laughed again, "Allen let the poor kid go, she looks about ready to implode!"

He finally gave in and let the farmer go, she swayed back and forth and then stumbled wispily to the nearest seat a little too pale and ghost like. Most of the table was still held in a state of suspended animation after the initial shock.

Neil stirred a spoon calmly in his coffee, he would almost pull off acting natural if he wasn't known for drinking his coffee black- he had nothing to stir. Feeling she needed to say something she found her voice hiding at the back of her throat and whispered, "I didn't… I didn't even know the human tongue could do that." There was a quick scrape as the spoon scratched the bottom of the cup. The only response anyone gave to that statement.

In the meantime, Allen and Giselle completed their little stare-off. "Well, I do love a good hunt." She finally said, batting her long lashes once dangerously, "I wasn't expecting to have to put up such a chase- it's not like you to play hard to get, but I'm excited, even if you're you, I'm me and NO ONE can resist me long."

With that she left, swaying her hips under her fitted skirt as she walked out the door.

The table was completely silent. Allen tilted her head cockily, "Those city women never _could_ keep their hands off me." He smirked, coming to stand behind the dealer and Rio, a hand on either of their chairs. To be honest, he was quite enjoying being a spectacle.

Rio just tried to shake it all off, too out of it to notice the dynamics of the table. She lifted her fork with a shaking hand and tried to take another bite off her cake but Allen wasn't going to let this opportunity to tease her with his sick sense of humour go waste. He quickly redirected her fork-full into his own mouth. She blinked in surprise and he smiled, "Sorry but I got a taste of it a little earlier and simply had to try more." He purred.

The dishes and cutlery clanked and the table shook violently as Neil suddenly rose bringing Allen down to eye level by snatching at his collar, "F*** off." He growled darkly with enough barely contained fury to break the author's no swearing rule.

"Neil." Rio said in shock, "It's ok, I'm ok with it you don't have to get mad."

Allen to his credit didn't really look put off "Scary." He joked, Neil's murderous expression didn't falter. "How long are you going to hold me here? You're not that bad to look at but I'm sorry I don't swing that way."

The animal trader finally let him go with disgust. He tugged at Rio, forcing her up. "Let's go." He said.

She sighed, it seemed no one was going to let her finish her cake. "Go?" She asked.

"To get you a couple tubes of toothpaste and a bar of soap to wash out his filth." He said lowly and pulled her out of the restaurant.

Allen sat back down in self-satisfaction, "I wasn't expecting that response." He announced. Then ribbing Iroha, "I told you I was popular with the ladies."

Silence drew on.

Iroha, shook her head before praying silently in her mother tongue for the Harvest Goddess to forgive her for allowing her eyes to be tainted by this strange brazen culture.

"Neil, stop! Stop!" Rio said as he pulled her along by the wrist.

In annoyance he abruptly let go, parking his hands in his pockets. He sighed.

"Well… crazy that someone stalked Allen this far huh? I always thought he was exaggerating his popularity." She said with a shaky cheeriness.

He gave her an angry look, "You're not at all mad he did that to you?"

She looked down in embarrassment, scratching her nose. "Ah, that… Well, it's all been done with now. Not much I can do about it." She laughed, "Plus for whatever reason, you seem mad enough for me."

He scowled, "I just think he was in the wrong for using you like that. He just grabbed you and then tossed you aside like an item."

"Truthfully…" Rio frowned, "I wish it didn't happen. After going this long without… I can't believe that had to be my first… that."

"Kiss?" He asked with some surprise.

Rio nodded with some shame.

His eye twitched, "Want me to go back and kill him?"

"Nah you don't have to do that."

"True." He agreed. "_Can _I go back and kill him?"

Rio laughed and his lip twitched upwards.

"My gallant knight." She joked.

"Laugh it up." He sighed. "I'm only doing it 'cause smug pieces of sh-"

She covered his mouth and he bat it away.

"-like him piss me off." He finished.

"Forget the soap for me, you need it more. Who knew you were such a potty-mouth?" Rio continued to laugh and then her expression fell.

"What's wrong?" He asked catching the shift.

"I can't believe you tore me from my cake." She whispered.

"_I_ can't believe you can eat that." He responded.

"I wonder if I go back will it still be there?" She asked wistfully.

"Don't" He said.

"But-"

He rummaged in his coat pocket and pulled out a couple coins. "Buy yourself one another time."

"Not, 'I'll buy you one sometime?" She asked.

"This is the same thing." He said.

"It's really not."

"I don't want to have to see that monstrosity ever again."

"You really don't like cake?" She asked in wonder.

"What would be your first clue?" He asked in sarcastic response.

"You're crazy." She said.

"You're crazy, he responded.

She creased her brow, she was a little new to this, but were they flirting? It seemed a little like they were flirting.

She took a sideways glance at the animal dealer, attempting to read his intentions but his focus was now trained elsewhere.

The woman named Giselle was walking carefully on the dirt walkway a ways away, navigating around the rocky patches that would be difficult with her highheels. She looked nothing short of disgusted by the utter ruralness of her surroundings.

"I kind of forgot about her what with everything else." He commented.

"She looks like she's gonna be... uh-" She had no nice way to put it.

"Troublesome." Neil finished for her bluntly.

* * *

**Well. Huh. Allen. Don't worry readers, Allen isn't into her that way, he just needed a body and she was there.**

**I kind of missed reader responses so as promised, they're back! I'm only going as far back as last month but if you left a comment before that, I still want you to know I'm super grateful, at some point or another you all made my day!**

**CrimsonCrush- We've been PMing a lot so I've probably responded in some way or another already but, just to be official and to not leave out one of my most loyal readers: Thanks! Yeah the hyperventilation thing- it's a horrible idea to breath deeply seeing as hyperventilation is exactly what it's name implies. Though Rio was breathing through her diaphram which should restrict the inhalation, I don't know, I wikihow'd it. LOL. **

**CheetosPotato****\- Haha yeah, a bear would not have gone over as cleanly as in the last story. Thank you so much as always for your kind reviews! ~(Imagine a string of heart emoticons here) And yeah, Chelsea's kinda crazy in the most silly, borderline sociopathic way, but who doesn't love the nutties? **

**Psycho Kay- Believe me I'm glad their relationship is going somewhere too cause I'm DYING to write more fluff in but Neil was so horribly stubborn to be a complete jerk up to this point. Haha Chelsea... The decision to write her that way came last minute but I'm so pleased with her character I feel she's gonna _have_ to appear again. Though of course since not everybody reading has played island of happiness or sunshine islands, I can't go too much into her as that might be a bore for them. A spin off could be fun but I probably won't.**

**xLadyxChoasx- Well I've seen a lot of you around recently. lol. Thanks for reading my stories! ~~ Wuv you back ;)**

**Mokki-chan- but then... how did it send 0_o I'm scared. Anyway, all you people changing your names and confusing me! Hope your new job went well and thanks so much for reading and taking the time to review**

**Guest- Ah Pewdiepie, don't shoot me but I ain't a huge fan of him. Though I don't dislike him either, I just like Cry better. Thanks! **


	12. Chapter 12

The newspaper was out and officially calling it a drought in Echo village and the surrounding areas.

Rio collapsed at the dock on the southernmost part of her farm, running hands through her hair in frustration. Her legs dangled off the pier but the water level was so low now not even the tips of her boots could skim the surface of the river.

Dunhill had immediately placed water limit restrictions to keep the town running through the entirety of the drought. Of course, Echo Ranch was given a good portion of the daily allowances but it wasn't enough. One by one,she had watched the leaves on her crops turn a dirty yellow, the bottom layer on her corn was shrunken and browned.

She wasn't one to complain, and she was thankful Dunhill was allowing her to use so much more than the rest of the town in terms of the water but today might just be her breaking point. The herbs she'd been spoiling were in the first throes of joining the others in the wilting process. To stand a fair chance in the crop competition at the end of the season she had been doing everything in her power to keep her mint happy. Double the water, fertilizers, scheduled deposits of gibberellins and other various plant hormones. Yes she had used every trick in her repertoire and she still couldn't beat the heat.

The summer was vicious. She was becoming more irritable than usual each day and she hadn't been out into town for days. Then again, the town wasn't at it's most pleasant either. Rio wasn't the only one that was feeling a little off, everyone was just a little snappish. It was only natural with the unrelenting heat.

The town's noisiest visitor didn't help either.

Giselle wasn't a bad person, everyone knew that, but it didn't stop her from grating on everybody's last nerves. She had only been around a week or so but she somehow managed to offend _everyone_ in one way or another. She had no filter.

She made some cutting comment about the way Tina dressed- though she might have been trying to help her, She scorned Yuri's designs complaining that there weren't any _good _places to shop for clothes in this little 'dust pit' of a town. Comments here and there were not gaining her any popularity.

It was only a matter of time before someone snapped. Luckily Neil had been off for another one of his work trips for the week, otherwise Rio had no doubt it would have been him.

Footsteps were heard behind her thumping on the wood and a moment later Allen joined beside her.

"Allen, what are you doing here?" She asked.

He quickly put a finger to his lips, "Hiding." He winked.

"You've had it rough." She said sympathetically, and, despite all her recent struggles, she actually meant it. "I don't know how you're still handling her so well."

He sighed and leaned back on his hands. "Hun, I'm a stylist. I worked almost strictly with her type back in the city, in fact, I'd say she's a much lesser evil than most of my regulars."

"Aaaallan!" A voice called cheerfully and they both winced.

"Giselle." He said with a tight smile.

"What on earth are you doing out here?" She asked. "It smells like fish." She said wrinkling her nose.

"As a river should." He agreed.

She spotted Rio as if for the first time, "Rio, right?"

"Yeah." She said in some surprise. She didn't really expect Giselle to even remember her name.

"You really are a farmer huh?" She said just now taking in that she was on a farm.

"Yes Ma'am." She said. Why on earth did she say ma'am? She had no idea.

"It's…" She tried to find a word to describe the property. "Uh." She really didn't have a compliment she could give and still be honest Rio realized. This was the part where common sense was supposed to kick in with the 'If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all'. Giselle didn't have that sense. "Yellow." She settled with.

"Yeah." Rio agreed. "Droughts do that."

"Hmm." She said. "Anyway Allen, Come take me to the diner, I HATE eating alone."

Allen stood up and nodded. "Let's go." He said summoning a patience he didn't usually have for people. "Let's leave Rio to her work." He offered the brunette his arm and she took it.

The farmer did have to admit the two looked GOOD together. Not that Allen seemed to have any interest in her other than making sure she didn't damage his business. Getting blacklisted by a woman such as that meant getting blacklisted by all her friends, and their friends and so on. When it came to socialites, a stylist had to be careful.

She returned to work ruefully, assessing her crops.

She had splurged at the beginning of the summer on some watermelon seeds. Those were dead now of course.

Tomatoes- Dying.

Corn- Yellow in all the wrong ways.

She looked away and was immediately confronted with something shockingly out of place in the sea of browns and yellows.

_Bright red. _

It was a coat. Any that coat was being worn, of course, by the only person you'd ever see wearing a coat on such a hot day.

The dealer stood before her with the tired expression of a weary traveller.

"Neil." She said. "Trip went well?"

"Ugg." He grunted. Obviously not.

"Was it a long trek back?" She asked.

"You could say." He huffed. "I just spent the last nine hours driving. I need a shower, and then to just collapse."

"Yet you visited me first?" She asked with a curious smile.

"Don't flatter yourself." He said irritably. "Surprise inspection."

"Surprise… Inspection?" She asked in confusion.

"Show me the animals." He said flatly and she frowned, before leading him in a brisk walk, (a speed he set), to the barn.

For whatever reason, she almost felt like she was in trouble but she could not figure out why.

He stepped into the open barn and gave every animal a scanning glance. "They seem… okay." He said, but before he could give any definitive statements to their well-being he gave each a closer inspection, running his hands up and down various parts of their coats in an expert pattern. Rio couldn't even begin to guess what he was testing for. He finished the last of the cows and sheep then headed to the coop, repeating the process.

"They're all in perfect health." He finally said. "Guess I underestimated you, sorry." With that he left the room leaving her dumbfounded as chicken came and pecked at her boots on the hope of possibly getting more feed.

She shook her head in confusion and jogged out after him. "Wait!" She called.

He glanced back.

"What was all that about?" She asked.

"Truthfully in this drought, I feared you might be prioritizing your plants. If any of the animals looked off I was prepared to rail on you."

"Glad you have so much faith in me." She said dryly.

He gave her the first good look since he returned, and had to stare. "Wait." He said. "There is an animal on this farm that's looking a little off."

"What?" She asked dumbly.

He put a hand under her chin a forced her gaze up, turning either cheek to him. "Dehydration, fatigue, stress.." He listed. "You should know better." He let her go and proceeded to continue leaving.

Ordinarily that sort of concern would cause a girl to blush, but Rio WAS dehydrated, and tired and stressed and inexplicable annoyance welled up inside her. "I am so SICK of that."

Now it was his turn to be dumbfounded. He turned back to her again.

"You and everyone in the village are all saying the same thing! 'Take better care of yourself Rio, drink more water.' Isn't the problem in the first place that there IS NO WATER?!" She ranted angrily. "It's so easy for all of you to criticize my efforts but I'm doing what I HAVE to do! It's not like anyone is actually giving me any solutions!"

"Rio." He said a little taken aback.

"Yeah, I'm tired Neil, and weak and-" Her voice cracked, "My mint's starting to die, _my mint_."

He didn't really get what that meant but found himself feeling for her none the less.

"How long had you been holding that in?" He asked.

"Just go." She said, "Please. I gotta get back to work."

He let his gaze sweep the farm once.

"Are you even listening?" She asked in irritation.

"Yeah, you begged me to come up with a solution." He said.

The look she gave him was incorrigible.

"This might be a dumb idea." He started, "Since I have no idea how much water you need but… The drought's pretty localized so water prices are still pretty normal a couple hours away, I stopped at a gas station out there so I know."

She gave him a questioning look, _Where is this going? _It seemed to ask.

"I know a place you can get 10-or-so gallon barrels of water. I could probably fit at least ten in my truck, more if I strap them down… That might not be enough but.. Enough to water your… mint?" He said.

"That… might help." She admitted.

"It's a little costly but I could get you a good deal." He said.

She glanced back at her long rows of crops, at her barn and coop… She had always said she refused to cause trouble for others, that she was one to be relied on not the other way around but his offer was so enticing, even more so than a chocolate cake.

"Just give in and agree Rio." He said tiredly. "Stop being so stubborn for once."

She was briefly annoyed again but then she gave in. "…Sure" She sighed.

He nodded, "I'll go now. Be back in four hours."

"Now?" She asked in surprise. "Didn't you just get back, didn't you say you were tired?" She argued.

"Don't worry about it" He said gruffly. "Be sure to hydrate yourself while I'm gone. You need to be alive when I get back to pay for the water." With that he was gone before she could argue further.

She stood slack jawed for a moment thinking such a grand gesture was grossly out of character. One second he's bursting in on the assumption that she's a heartless monster who's neglecting her animals, the next he's going to some extreme measure for her sake.

He had helped her in the past but never to this extent, he was usually at the wrong place at the right time and forced to begrudgingly do what anyone else would… but this was beyond what anyone else would be willing to do.

Since he was doing all this for her, the least she could do was follow his advice. She put down her rucksack of tools next to a stump and headed back to her house to take a long drink of water, and was already feeling a little better. There still was that nagging feeling that with the amount she just consumed she could have sustained a few crops but she reminded herself that more water was coming.

Hopefully.

If Neil came through.

She had finished all the work she could do when the sun was beginning to set. She returned to her house in the defeat that was now a regular part of her day.

From outside she could hear the sound of tires on dirt and an engine being put to sleep and she forced herself to rise from her couch, ignoring the wave of dizziness her body hit her with in complaint.

Peeking out the door she spotted Neil leaning on his truck and facing her with his arms crossed.

She ducked back in to throw on a pair of quick-to-kick-on shoes and hurried back outside to see several barrels strapped to the back of his pick-up and her heart skipped. She looked to Neil wide eyed and he sent her a half smile.

Somehow she had known for a while, the notion had kept bubbling up over and over, and each time she suppressed it but she was finally willing to admit it. The one she liked, was not the boy from the coffee shop- That was just a little nothing-crush she was easily going to walk away from after graduation. The one she truly _liked_ was Neil, her sullen and emotionally-challenged animal supplier. The Neil who was always there for her in a way she never let anyone else be before, the Neil who worked like a dog and loved animals more than anyone else in the village and, seeing him there she couldn't resist it.

She ran over full speed and barreled into him, wrapping her arms around his torso. The force was so strong he would have fallen back if he didn't have the car to support him and they bumped into it with light thud. Although he looked like someone who had just spent thirteen hours in a car, he didn't smell it. His coat carried all of the more pleasant barnyard smells, dried hay, cut grass and there was something vaguely spicy. She hugged him tighter.

"Hey.." He said put entirely off guard, "It's not that-"

"Thank you." She whispered. "Thank you, thank you so much Neil."

She kissed his cheek for good measure before parting and beaming at him. "I can't believe you did this!"

"Me neither to be honest." He admitted hiding his red face with his wild hair, reaching a hand up to feel his cheek but stopping halfway as he remembered where he was and who he was with. Instead he put it into a fist and cleared his throat. "So this should help for a while. Hopefully it'll help you hold on till the next rain." He handed her the receipt and she reimburst him the correct number of gold coins. With that the transaction was complete. He helped her unload the truck and then quickly headed back to get some much earned sleep.

She watched the vehicle disappear out the farm entrance with great satisfaction having figured out her feelings. Yes, she liked Neil.

Then she paled. Wait. She liked _Neil_. Oh Goddess.

* * *

**I had to change this chapter around 'cause I looked back at my story map and Neil was supposed to be way too nice and out of character. Then again he still was being oddly kind but, meh. A problem was that I've deleted several planned chapters so far and by the time I got here they were supposed to be much closer than they are but I think this now works how it is.**

**CrimsonCrush- And here you go, even more progression. lol. LOTS of progression I'd say.**

**xLadyxChaosx- Neil probably wanted to punch him. But he couldn't justify to himself or anyone else _why_. We'll see where I'm going with Giselle, probably not as far as you think :/**

**Psycho Kay- Hehe, I agree that's TOO common a trope. I ain't much of a trend follower. Just most of the time.**

**Peachie- Poor Neil. But glad you got a kick out of it. Makes me wonder how you'll like next chapter... XD**

**Savitron5- Be patient, I want them together too. Ahhh I can't wait it's not fair! XD**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey everybody! Sorry for the delay! You know, writer's block :P **

* * *

It was exactly seven days later, just a little after all of her extra water rations ran dry that the rain finally came to Echo Village.

It flipped like a switch bringing a torrential downpour over the dry and sun-scorched land. Every depression and crevice was filled with deep puddles that could not sink into the earth fast enough, the river almost immediately rose a few inches.

The villagers were awoken to the sound of colossal drops hammering down on their rooftops and joining to flood over their gutters in waterfalls.

Rio had foolishly stepped out of her house in a daze, still clad in her sleepwear, only to be pelted and thoroughly soaked in an instant. She laughed as a slight wind blew causing the droplets to mass together and lash at her mercilessly in frozen splashes. It was surely the start of a very good day.

The immense rain lost momentum in half an hour, its roar fading to a dull and pathetic pitter patter as it drizzled.

Then by eight in the morning it had died all together and the hated sun once again made its appearance but the water had done its work.

After changing she headed to the grazing fields and watched her animals willingly leave their shelters for the first time in weeks, sniffing the cooler dampened air and surveying the glorious aftermath of the onslaught.

She walked through her rows of crops feeling the wet grass tickle against her shins and soak her socks. The plants still had a ways to recover but they looked happy. They managed to hold on thanks to the extra water Neil had gotten her and now there was a wonderful surplus. The water had managed to max the soil's concentration gradient and puddle at the surface, occasionally disrupted by the droplets of water succumbing to gravity and falling from the tips of the leaves in fat pearls.

It seemed the farmer could finally take the day off.

0o0o0

Neil wasn't really a guy that into "things". None of the original occupants of Echo village were. His tastes, unlike his style of dressing, were rather basic. Nothing reflected this better than his house. A meagrely decorated place mostly outfitted with the cheapest options from a mix of ikea and garage sales in nearby towns. It was tidy but little care was shown in prettying the place up, as evident by the various crates, milk cans, and tools tucked away into corners here and there.

There were only really two things of value that he owned: his guitar and his coffee table.

It was a year or so back that he came to the realization that in a town with what was likely the lowest living expenses in the country, his bank account was growing increasingly fast with his average salary. He had little use of these liquid assets because, again, the price of living alone in a ghost town where forest animals bring you food ingredients was next to nothing.

So he had decided to splurge, purchasing a beautiful and classy rosewood table, with sleek dark lines and a rich brown timbre, made with wood so fresh it still carried the distinctive odour of flowers. He was rather fond of this table as it was his first and only major investment.

Naturally he was irked to no end now seeing a pair of dirty sneakers propped up on its surface.

"So anyway, then the dog led us back to the barn and-" Rod continued his story to Allen, entirely oblivious to their host's increasing annoyance.

He tuned out the story he had already heard earlier that day and watched with dismay as Rod shuffled in the excitement of his recap, revealing little dirt marks on the table's glossy surface. He wondered briefly why he was even putting up with their company. He never used to have qualms with slamming the door shut on unannounced house guests. Not to mention although he usually tolerated Rod, he next to despised the redhead.

The village had changed a lot but maybe he had too? Certainly he was slightly more tolerant with people- and then there were the countless little things he did for Rio that still baffled him, and on that thought he was back to Rio.

He had realized Rod's story had finished and decided if he was going to have company, he could at least make use of it. When it came to thinking over the behaviourisms of other people it was probably best he seek counsel, but he wasn't quite sure how to bring it up. Or really how to form the question. Or what the question even was.

"Whatcha thinking about Neil?" Asked Rod.

"Rio gave me a really weird vibe last week." Neil finally said.

The two gave him a baffled look. "And you're still hung up on it? What kind of vibe?" Asked Allen in minor amusement.

"I don't really know…"He admitted.

"Well what did she do? Did you get her mad again?" Rod asked with slight disapproval.

"No." He said. "…she smiled."

Allen bursts out laughing, "I heard you two really didn't get along at first but has she really never smiled at you before?"

"It wasn't her normal smile…" He objected weakly.

The two other men exchanged a look, Rod could sometimes be a little slow and often relied on Allen's understanding but the red head only shrugged.

Neil hid his frustration.

He wasn't good at people. No huge surprise there, but everyone has a certain degree of empathy, it was human nature after all. As you grow up you begin to learn what different faces mean. This is angry, this is sad. It is a survival instinct. So when someone looked at him in a way he'd never been looked at before, it unnerved him. What he really wanted to ask them was, what did that expression mean? But how does one describe an expression?

It didn't help that he hadn't seen her since. All he could do was think back to their last encounter. It felt like something had changed at that moment yet he hadn't stuck around to see what it was and then she became immersed in work. "You hang out with her a lot, has she been acting weird?" He tried asking Allen.

"You really need to be more specific on what weird means if you want my help here…" Allen shrugged. "I mean, she's been ditching our regular lunch at Clements but then, so has that blacksmith. It seems those two brutish women have nothing of their minds but work… That's how they've always been though."

"That rain this morning musta' really helped Rio out." Rod commented.

"No kidding." Allen agreed. "That drought was just as much killing her as it was her plants."

"Are you sure you aren't imagining things?" Rod asked Neil. "She was probably just exhausted, whatever she did or said she was probably just tired don't take it to heart. You say a lot of mean things when you're tired."

"Why are you so concerned anyway? Are you afraid she might be plotting to kill you?" Allen teased.

"Wouldn't that be cool if Rio was secretly some sort of master assassin?" Rod chipped in.

"Nevermind." Neil sighs.

It must have all been in his head he guessed, or either way, he wasn't going to get any help from these two.

Though he was sure she _had_ given him a weird look that day. Well, not weird but… when she had first peeked her head out the door and saw him standing there, there was something else in her expression. It wasn't so much in the grin itself, but her eyes. They almost sparkled.

Plus, she had kissed him- on the cheek but still.

"Are you okay man?" Neil glanced up furrowing his brow at Rod's question.

"Your face is completely flushed." Allen informed him.

"Yeah." He said, ducking his head in embarrassment. "Hot day."

They gave him a strange look seeing as it was one of the cooler days that season but for the most part dismissed it and moved onto other conversation.

He really needed to snap out of it. They were right, it probably was nothing. He was the one getting all worked up over nothing. He was _not_ doing this to himself again.

A knock at the door disturbed his thoughts, and he sighed before rising, he swore if it was that monstrous woman finally sniffing Allen out-

He shook his head and opened the door.

0o0o0o0

It was Rio. Looking anywhere but at the dealer she smiled sheepishly.

It having been a week since their last encounter she had a lot of time to sort out the mess that was her feelings.

She had determined back then that she liked him.

A moment later, the gargantuan realization then hit her that he was probably one of the worst people she could fall for, but it was of course, too late.

The guy was just so ill-equipped for something like romance. He had spent so much of his time up to this point alone so now just accepting friends into his life was a stretch for him. He was hardly ever honest with his feelings either, even if he did someday grow to like her there was a chance he might never admit it. She couldn't wait for him forever.

More prominently, she could not recall ever doing anything to make him like her. In fact, looking back. Most of the encounters she had with him that lead her to fall for him were cringe worthy on her side.

She embarrassed herself at the café, cried in front of him over nothing in the forest, she had a panic attack at the test of courage-and not the cute kind, and now he had to drive off somewhere to buy her water because she couldn't take care of herself properly.

With those memories running through her head like a broken record, she suddenly felt the extreme desire to flee in complete embarrassment. The more she thought about everything the more she wanted to sink into oblivion.

She re-evaluated her convictions and clenched her fist determinedly, even able to meet his eye for half a second before looking away. "I-" Her voice faltered, "I just…."

"Rio…" He said in a tone that was almost worried.

"It rained." She said cheerily, not tearing her gaze from the buckle on the left sleeve of his coat.

"Uh, yeah." He agreed. "That's good."

"Very good!" She agreed.

Silence.

"Anyway I just wanted to thank you again, it's only 'cause of you my crops were able to hold out." She smiled.

"It really wasn't-"

"-It was a big deal!" She objected to what he was surely about to say, she was staring into his eyes determinedly now. "You're always helping me out! Really Thanks!"

"K… welcome." He conceded.

"I wanted to do something for you… But I wasn't sure what." She frowned, "I can't really bake you anything since you hate sweets- it would be more like a punishment. Flowers didn't seem appropriate either." She scratched her nose with some shame before rifling through her bag. "This is all I could think of." She handed him a jar of milk. "Course this isn't much but I'll share some produce with you during harvest time… but even then it's hardly enough."

He glanced at the milk in his hand and then at her. "Thanks I guess, but really you don't have to. It wasn't too much a hassle."

He stepped back into the house, keeping the door open in silent invitation and she bit her lip shyly before entering, and then freezing.

Allen and Rod watched the pair from the couch.

Her body erupted in a plume of heat. They had been there the whole time! They had heard everything! How embarrassing!

Rod tilted his head curiously, obviously wondering how long the two of them had been that close and Allen… he smirked at her knowingly and she suddenly felt the world swirling below her. HE KNEW. He obviously figured out she liked Neil!

He rose an eyebrow and she felt like dying all over again.

"What are you doing here?" She tried to ask casually but it came out more like a whisper.

"Hiding." Allen winked.

"Giselle doesn't know to look for him here." Rod explained.

It made sense. Everyone knew, probably even the newcomer, how little Neil liked Allen so it was the perfect hideout. Well, the arrangement was not so perfect for Neil.

She glanced over to catch him grimace.

Before Allen could tease her or say something that could call her out on her feelings in front of the other two she carried on the conversation. "She must really like you. To wait out this long.."

Allen laughed. "Unlikely! You can be such a child sometimes."

"What do you mean?"

"As charming and devilishly handsome as I am, she _only_ wants me because I said no."

She tilted her head in confusion.

He sighed at his friend's complete ignorance, "Women like that see themselves as strong and being rejected is damaging to that image."

He removed his glasses and pulled out a small silk sheet without his usual flourish, wiping at imaginary dirt. "It's a complete pain for me though. Girl's like that, their entire self-worth comes to how well they can attract a man and it puts me in a bind. As I stylist, I am to nurture this sense of beauty. Real girls, unlike you and that blacksmith are so fragile though. I can't put her down roughly, but I have no desire to agree either." He readjusted his glasses back on the bridge of his nose and leaned back. "Ah such a conundrum." He said in a sing song voice.

"So you've been hiding indoors this entire time?" She asked.

"Yup." Rod agreed.

"Wow. That's unexpectedly pathetic." She said out loud before thinking.

Allen blanked and Neil suppressed a snicker.

In alarm, she quickly shook her head. "Ah, no! What I meant was you're always so self-confident and 'in control' and stuff. So you didn't seem like the type to go to so much extra effort to avoid someone."

"I'm not." He said darkly and the stood up. "Come on." He ordered to the room, "We're going on a walk."

That was how the unlikely group ended up on an impromptu hike through the mountains.

Rio decided it was best not to mention that this didn't prove anything seeing as Giselle wasn't the type to go on nature walks. Or Allen either for that matter.

"Ah isn't this great!" Said Rod excitedly. "Out with a bunch of friends experiencing the outdoors! We should have brought food and had a picnic!"

He was ignored.

Rio felt bad seeing his figurative tail cease to wag and droop. She decided to throw him a bone, "Maybe we could do that another week. We could invite the others too."

"Yeah!" He agreed happily again.

She stopped herself as she was about to rustle his hair and call him a good boy.

They had reached the Goddess pond and paused momentarily watching its characteristic shimmer.

"Now what?" Asked Neil.

"Guess we turn back." Rio responded.

"Well this was eventful." He said sarcastically and turned heel, only to stop.

The others turned to look.

Standing behind them was no one other than the very woman Allen had been hiding from.

Iroha stood behind her in horror.

"Giselle." Allen greeted and the blacksmith hurried over to Rio's side.

"What is she doing here?" Rio whispered urgently.

Iroha shook her head in slight panic. "She had caught me at the forge." She whispered back, "She wouldn't let me be until I told her where Allen was. So I said the mountains, I thought it was the one place she wouldn't actually want to go! I also certainly didn't imagine to find you all up here!"

They turned back to the scene before them at the sound of Allen's voice. "What are you doi-"

"You know exactly way I'm here." She said impatiently cutting him off. People _did not_ cut Allen off. He almost rose his eyebrows, "Look, this is getting boring, just tell me already the reason why you refuse to go out with me."

Allen frowned and Neil looked at him in annoyance, "Just tell her." He said in exasperation. He was not the type to have the tack to put up with this sort of thing.

Something flashed in Allen's expression. An idea. Rio gulped, Allen ideas were always brilliant, but never good.

Allen turned back to the brunette and sighed, "You're right… Giselle." He said looking at her with an unusually honest expression- "I can't give you what you really want, and it wouldn't be fair to either of you."

"Either of you?" Giselle asked perking a perfectly shaped eyebrow.

He gripped Neil's shoulder. "I'm ready to come out."

"Wait what?" Asked Neil in shock. Allen turned to him with a loving smile, "sweety, I've been thinking a lot about what you said, and how much I've hurt you by keeping our relationship a secret."

The blonde man scowled, "What are you-!"

Allen kissed him softly.

Rio and Iroha gaped.

He pulled away and looked back to Giselle who slumped in disbelief and defeat. "I- I…." She sighed, "I can't compete with that. Alright you win, I'll give up." She smiled at Neil enviously, "You've caught yourself quite a man there blondie be sure to cherish him and don't let him out of your grip, he's a slippery one."

Neil stuttered incomprehensibly as his face darkened by the second. Allen gripped his shoulder slightly.

She shook her head sadly and waved a slight goodbye, "I guess there's no reason for me to be sticking around now. I don't suppose I could have a cut before I go? You still are the best stylist I've ever had."

Allen glanced at Neil lovingly before smiling at the socialite thankfully, "I'm really glad you understand and it would be an honour to touch such beautiful hair again."

They set off down the hill together. With the rest of the crowd, Neil swiped furiously at his lips.

"Wha- I- he. GAAHHH!" He said in frustration, finally stopping and finding the words, "WHY THE HELL WOULD SHE BELIEVE WE WERE A COUPLE WHEN SHE DIDN'T BELIEVE HIM AND RIO?!" He asked, pointing angrily at the two walking ahead.

Rod just laughed, "Aw when did you guys become such good friends? I used to be Allen's anti-wingman!"

Iroha again shook her head in disbelief, eyes spinning. RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE GODDESS POND TOO!"

Neil fled off to some part of the forest where he felt safe, he probably needed some time to recover, maybe hug a bear or something- no one quite knew what he did out there beyond the trails.

With that, Rio, Iroha and Rod began their long path back to the village.

* * *

**Well that brings the end of Giselle and it worked out perfectly for everyone! Giselle was let down easy AND gets something even better than Allen as a boyfriend, a 'gay' stylist! Those are super trending right now!**

**Allen gets the publicity from Giselle when she goes back to her enormous circle of friends with her snazzy new hairdo, snf was given a pain-free solution out of dating her.**

**And Neil well... uh. He and Rio now share the connection of having their first kisses stolen from the same guy. When you think about it, it's almost like an indirect kiss. Yup. **

**Review Responses:**

**CrimsonCrush- Is Allen a sweetie? Is he really? LOL I have know idea how this is going to go over with people but I had to do this.**

**Singer of Water- Thank you! I'm really happy to know you're enjoying it XD There's no better compliment then the 'I can't put this story down" type. Makes me smile and makes writing so fulfilling.**

**xLadyxChaosx- Yup not quite what you expected huh? In the end Giselle had little to no plot relevance. Except maybe to make Neil fear Allen even more. **

**Psycho Kay- I do not follow common tropes. Or story-plot logic. I do what I want. LOL. Anyway, yah! Rio likes Neil! Neil's spent an entire week thinking about Rio so hurrah! That's something!**


	14. Chapter 14

**I really had to force myself through this chapter. Things will finally get interesting after this but geez. -_- **

**Posting the next chapter tomorrow including all reader responses from the last two chapters. Thank you so much everyone! (Honestly I have next chapter 80% written it's gonna be awesome) **

The blacksmith stretched her arms, wincing immediately in regret. She had been overworking herself and was feeling particularly sore after locking herself up in the forge for a couple days. She had forgotten how different actual sunlight felt from the intense embers in the stove, but now she closed her eyes, soaking in the warm summer rays.

The weather was simply too nice outside to not go out, she could make up for this break on those miserable winter days. Plus anyway, this was to be a productive trip to the mine- she was just taking the long way was all.

It was the outdoor scents that she relished the most, likely the only complaint she had about smithing was that there was nothing too pleasant about the ashy smell of fire tainted with metal. She had to resign herself quite ruefully that she would forever smell like a dirty penny.

Heading up the hill of the river area, she spotted Rio down below in the meadow, plucking up shippables with impressive efficiency.

Rio on the other hand, always seemed to smell like some type of flower. She had once confided in her with some embarrassment that people at her old school referred to her as some sort of fairy. Something the blonde had immediately laughed off at the shear ridiculousness.

Iroha too had thought that was a little over the top but seeing her flit between the flowers - maybe she could understand that a little. The girl's hair which was a dull yellow and unruly indoors, shone gold in the light with an untameable wildness as she bent down to inspect a toy flower. She really did look like an imp out of a story book.

She shook her head out of her inspection, she had forgotten she could actually call out to her. She was about to too, but someone else caught the blonde's attention first.

"Well, well farmer. Fancy meeting you here."

Rio smiled, "Allen." She greeted the red head.

"Shouldn't you be preparing for that crop festival or whatever?" He asked, "Do you really have time to be frolicking about?"

"It's true the festival's coming up.. but I'm not actually sure what preparing would mean. What else can I do, I've watered my plants, fertilized them, now what? Brush them? Dress them up? Tie and little bow around them and give them a pep-"

Allen shushed her, "I'm proud you're learning sarcasm but it looses its humour if you stretch it too far."

Iroha shook her head at the sight of the stylist, she had still not gotten over the shock of his more recent actions. He was a friend though, and if Rio could forgive him she had no choice but too as well. She began to make her way over to join them.

He looked at the blonde for a moment. "Any sightings from that animal dealer?" He asked.

Rio glanced at him wearily. "No. Why would I?"

The stylist smirked and Rio brought her hat back over her head. "Well he's been avoiding me like a bashful school girl since our last encounter. I swear- if he comes running back demanding I take responsibility for taking his first kiss-" The stylist paused, shaking his head in amusement. "I'm not sure what I'll do- I think you've noticed I'm not a one-girl type of guy. Definitely not the kind he wants to bring back to his mother and start a home with."

"You just surprised him was all." Rio objected in Neil's defense.

"You took this all much better than he did." Allen commented, "Both times."

"Well… I don't know, things like that can't surprise me anymore, next to my best friend you're an open book."

"Iroha is pretty straightforward." He replied with some confusion.

"Iroha?" Rio asked. Iroha paused with slight hurt. She had never really thought of things like best friends but that didn't mean Rio had to look like that was such a baseless assumption.

"I meant my college roommate Chelsea, she's you scaled up ten notches."

"I'll have to try harder I suppose." Allen shrugged, "I'd hate to think my watered-down personality is boring you."

"That's not what I-"

"Anyway," Allen said shaking his head, "You're actually rather good at de-railing me. This is not want I wanted to tease you about. Let's talk about your crush."

A hand quickly went to his mouth. "SHHHH!"

"It's not like anyone is here." Iroha ducked into the shrubs as he glanced around and then grimaced, why did she hide?! Well it would have been weird if she were just standing there staring at them. There was no getting out of it now.

"Well, I don't really feel like talking about it." She heard the farmer say timidly. " It's also something to never be discussed in public! Top secret! Between you and me only!"

So now they were keeping secrets from her? Two needles in her heart within a minute.

"What do you even see in that dope?" Allen asked.

"I don't know! I've just always… He's always there exactly when I need him you know? He can just be so nice…"

Iroha, currently hidden did not see the incredibly incredulous look Allen gave Rio at 'nice'. Instead she froze. There was only one person they could possibly be talking about. Rod. There weren't many young men in the village and only one you could tag 'nice' to. Which would probably explain why they were bound to fall for the same guy. Could she compete with Rio though? Her chest sunk because she knew the answer.

"Somehow even though you're not physically laughing… I feel like your laughing at me." Rio said dryly.

"_Never_. I'm a gentleman. Though this is all just so sickeningly sweet- I wonder what Iroha will say? You know she-"

" 'will say'? There is no 'will say' she's DEFINITELY not finding out. I told you, this secret's mine and yours only." Rio said firmly which only heightened Iroha's suspicions. Rio knew about how she felt about Rod, so of course she'd keep it a secret from her.

They talked about a couple other mundane things after that before gradually heading off and Iroha emerged from the bushes; suddenly regretting her walk very much.

The day got worse from there. She could only seem to find junk ores in the mine and returning to the forge, she had made a terrible mistake on her ongoing project, forcing her to re-melt the metal and start from scratch.

It was three in the afternoon when the farmer came to visit. The blacksmith continued her work at the anvil, beating the metal down.

"Hey Iroha! Hows the day treating you?" She grinned.

Clank!

Although usually level-headed, irritation welled up in her. "Not too well." She said stiffly.

Clank!

"Is something wrong?" Rio frowned.

She glanced away from what she was doing to look at Rio, resting the red hot metal on the anvil's surface and her hammer on the ground.

"I'm sorry Rio. I'm just a little tired." She apologized, she was acting childish she realized, she couldn't blame Rio for liking the same guy, those things just happen. Plus it was her own fault she had never even attempted to get closer to him. Though it still was a little poor of Rio to not tell her.

"Oh believe me I get it." Rio nodded sympathetically. "I was you a week or so back. You really should get some rest if you're feeling off though."

"I'm just fine." Iroha immediately dismissed and reached for her project, forgetting part of it was searing hot. An intense pain shot through her fingertips and she immediately recoiled, falling back with a pained screech.

"Goddess!" Rio exclaimed in alarm, grabbing the cleanest towel she could find.

Iroha sighed, not yet brave enough to inspect the burn before Rio wrapped it up. "We have to see Klaus right now!" She panicked.

A visit to be yelled at by Klaus was really not what she needed on this already horrible day but there was no way around it, Rio had already rushed her out the door.

When they arrived at the hospital, Klaus was talking to a younger man in a matching coat. Upon noticing the two at the door, his expression soured. "Hello again Doctor Klaus." Iroha said with a shaky voice. He dismissed the other doctor before turning his attention back to them, readjusting his glasses. Iroha she gulped.

It took ten minutes for her wounds to be treated, then significantly longer for Klaus to stop lecturing her on how she never should have received those injuries in the first place. "How many times do you have to come here before you realize you need to be more careful?!" The man snapped.

Iroha bent her head, knowing that any excuse would only keep her there longer. "You are right. I am sorry."

"No really," He pressed, "I'm asking you how many times?"

"I've learnt my lesson." Iroha said somberly.

"Good because I will not allow this to happen again." He sniffed. With that you would think the matter was dropped but it obviously wasn't. He picked back up on his rant, questioning her intellect and even at one point urging Rio to tear down the forge the next time she hurt herself.

Rio of course refused, and made the mistake of telling him that it was her fault this time around for distracting Iroha, which of course led to him going off on her.

The blacksmith forgot her annoyance at the farmer, quickly empathizing as it was now Rio's turn to duck her head and nod deafly to his lecture. He proceeded to go off on a tangent about Rio's own health. She interrupted him to protest, _a rookie mistake _Iroha winced.

"Pull up a chair." He told the farmer darkly, "I think it's about time I lecture you both."

The two exchanged a panicked look but begrudgingly complied.

They were out of the hospital an hour later, the two friends slogging their way back home wearily.

"I never knew a lecture could be so mentally draining." Iroha mumbled.

Rio couldn't even manage a reply. Se grunted her agreeance.

"I'm sorry you had to be there to get caught up in it all, but I'm glad you were there none the less." She smiled weakly. She meant it, there she was getting so upset about Rio keeping secrets from her that she forgot what an amazing friend she was.

"Of course, you know I always have your back." Rio laughed. "We're together through the good and bad- 'cause we're friends you know?"

The blacksmith could have cried, but she didn't. Instead she did something grossly out of character, pulling her friend into a tight hug. Rio laughed some more and tentatively returned it. "Geez what's with you today?"

A horse's whinny pulled them apart and they looked back in alarm to the town square.

Rod was frantically trying to get a grey mare under control, she reared up and he backed up. Neil hopped the desk of his own stall to help him out. Together they managed to calm her.

Iroha turned her attention back to Rio and paused. The blonde continued to watch the boys with a distant expression playing across her face. A light smile crossed her lips and the pit in Iroha's stomache found it's way back. She pushed it away and took a deep breath in. "Rio, I know."

"Know what?" She asked in confusion.

"I overheard you and Allen today… about your 'crush'." She stated.

Rio's eyes went wide as saucers and she quickly removed her hat to place to her lips. "Oh." Was all she could manage.

"I've been thinking about it and… at first I was upset naturally. Plus that you kept it a secret from me didn't help but I don't want to lose you over something as silly as a boy, I've never had a friend I've felt as close to as you. So just know I think you should go for it."

"Really?" Asked the farmer.

Iroha nodded.

"You don't think it's a bad idea?"

"Why would I? You too are quite suited for each other."

"You really think so?"

"More so than I would be…" The blacksmith said quietly.

The farmer blinked, suddenly sensing the disconnect. "You?"

The blacksmith tilted her head, "Well you did know my feelings for him."

"Are we… are we talking about Rod?" Rio asked dumbly.

"We're not?" Iroha blinked.

"….No."

"Then who?"

Rio sighed. She was going to really regret this. "…Neil"

Iroha gawked and Rio shifted nervously on either foot, feeling a heightened gravity under her gaze. "Neil." Iroha repeated thinking that couldn't possibly be right.

"Yeah." She attempted a smile, "So I guess we aren't into the same guy, that's good news right?"

Iroha shook her head before grabbing her friend by the arms. "Rio! What on Earth are you thinking?! You two hated each other!"

The farmer looked away sadly. She really thought for a moment Iroha would understand, but she was too reasonable. To mature and motherly.

"You're going to get hurt." She urged, "You know how he is. Give him your heart and he could very easily stomp on it."

"Neil doesn't want to hurt anybody." Rio mumbled.

"He doesn't _want_ to but that doesn't stop him." Iroha scoffed. "Just remember how horribly he treated you at the beginning, what on Earth made you decide to like him?!"

Tables had turned and now Rio was upset. "You just don't understand! I just like him okay? You said you wouldn't let a guy come between us!"

"That was before."

"And this is now." Rio said dryly.

"I'm just trying to look out for you…"

"Yeah fine, I'll just stop liking him. Easy." The farmer glared at her, "I wasn't going to do anything about this crush… Like I wasn't going to confess or anything. I was really happy though when you said I should."

"I'm sorry Rio." Iroha sighed. She just couldn't agree with how reckless she was being. "But you understand right? You always hear the horror stories of girls ending up with the wrong guy- those dark and moody types with just their faces going for them. I just don't want to see you in that situation. You're so smart. You're too smart to think you can change a bad boy."

The farmer shook her head. "He's not like that. I don't _want_ to change him." She sighed deciding the fight wasn't worth it. "The crop festival's tomorrow." She said numbly. "I should go get my stuff together." With that she left and Iroha watched her go sadly. This just wasn't her day.

* * *

The festival was much more impressive than the season before. In the spring the village was still just barely more than a couple houses with next to no spectators. Word of the village's recent success though had to be spreading, with twice the participant's tourism for the week boomed, and in great time since the inn had just been rebuilt.

Dunhill seemed ecstatic. Vendors had even approached him to set up shop and the festival field was now transformed into what looked like a country fair.

Rio didn't have the capacity to take in any of this though. She paced back and forth frantically. There was some relief in that she had done everything she could but the drought had played a major part in interrupting the growth and re-seed of her crops. She had registered in expert class under Dunhill's instruction and everyone had such high hopes for her.

The competition having heard rumour of her, eyed her wearily. They'd probably never respect her after this if she lost.

She looked sick and stressed enough that a number of villagers had to stop and make sure she didn't need a visit to the clinic.

"Hey…" A voice said.

Rio jumped and wheeled around.

The man who they had seen talking to Klaus at the hospital jumped back a little in alarm. "Nervous I take it?" He chuckled.

"Uh, yeah… a little." She admitted.

"Well, you certainly don't need to be. You were the Agriculture Queen after all." He smiled.

Rio groaned, "Even you know too? Please don't say that."

The man smiled apologetically. "Sorry, believe me I get it."

"Really?" Rio asked.

"I was actually the king of the medical school last year." He explained. "I wouldn't expect you to know of me or anything since the post-grad degrees are kind of separated out, but I get how ridiculous the whole title thing feels." He explained.

Rio's eyes teared, and she clamped her hands around his. "You really do understand." She sniffed.

"Sure does put a lot more pressure into everything though, everyone expecting so much more of you. Like we'd be doing rounds and I just know I have to know the answer to every single question or I'll lose all respect. Since we're either perfect or nothing you know?" He sighed.

Rio nodded fervently.

"I'm Trent by the way." He smiled, "I'm getting some guidance under Klaus before I return to my clinic in Mineral town. That's where your previous Queen Claire is actually."

"Oh really? So that-" Rio's question fell short as she heard Dunhill announce the start of the judging. She was rendered immobile in fright.

Trent smiled at her reassuringly and she nodded, wobbling away. Iroha shook her shoulder in encouragment as she past and Allen smirked at her in a way that was either reassuring or 'at least if things go wrong it'll be entertaining'.

She caught a flash of a red coat in the crowd though and that's when she really found the strength to compose herself. She needed to go up there in confidence, it was the least she could do for Neil who had gone to so much effort to keep her crops alive so that she could participate.

Her mint was very good, but certainly not what she deemed worthy of first. She had overlooked of course, that the drought hit the others too. With that being said, she won.

Rio beamed and immediately scanned the field zoning in on her target almost immediately. Neil almost looked confused to see her bee-line for him. "Neil!" She said happily.

"Hey." He said keeping his arms crossed uncomfortably, "Congrats."

She giggled.

"Uh. Shouldn't you be celebrating with your buddies?" He asked.

"I had to thank you first!" She insisted, "I never would have won without your help this season."

"Well, no problem I guess." He nodded.

Just then a woman's voice interrupted them, "Well if it isn't Romeo and Juliet?" She had announced this loudly enough to peek nearby attention as well, other villagers including Iroha and Allen slowed down in their tracks to listen in.

"What?" Rio blinked.

The woman seemed a little embarrassed by her outburst, "Sorry- of course you two wouldn't know those names, we tend to give our regulars nicknames and forget they aren't their real names…"

The two continued to look at the woman blankly. She was of a sturdy figure, with kind eyes and curly brown hair that were vaguely familiar.

"Do you remember a little coffee shop near HM University?" She asked. They nodded. " I own it." The woman explained.

Rio suddenly recognized her. "Oh right! I can't believe I didn't know that! Now that I'm really looking at you, of course I know who you are. What are you doing all the way here? It's such a coincidence."

The woman beamed, "I decided to check out more local herbs for our teas and desserts- which of course I'll be needing to talk to you about later- but more importantly, it's so nice to see the two of you together!"

She laughed at their questioning looks, "Oh come on, don't act like you two haven't been in love with each other for years before this point."

The pair's faces immediately burst red. "What?!" They both objected.

"That's why you call us Romeo and Juliet?" Rio asked quietly.

"You always were adorable", she said affectionately ruffling the farmer's hat. "That's what everyone at the shop called you two. You were actually quite famous, people even came in when it wasn't their shift just to see what we were talking about."

"….." Neil and Rio remained quiet.

The woman shook her head in exasperated disbelief. "Well I mean, FOUR YEARS. Four years you guys were exchanging glances and the timing was just never right that you made eye contact. We had half a mind to force you guys together!"

"?!" The matching expression they sent her was of shock and disbelief.

Then they shot that look to each other.

Allen looked like he was having a field day, the café owner turned to him conversationally, "Honestly, we had a running bet on whether they'd make eye contact on a particular day. It only happened only once and by then the pot was so big, our girl Angie was getting free coffee for a year."

Truthfully Rio remembered that day, he was leaving the waiting que with his coffee, she was entering and their eyes met for a second. She was MORTIFIED to know other people remembered it too.

"This story is ridiculous. You all were seeing stuff that wasn't there" Neil scoffed.

She rose her eyebrow, "You're not convincing me at all, did she not run straight to you after winning?" Rio froze.

"And why is it I've suddenly not seen you at the café since she graduated?" She nudged him playfully.

He glanced away, using the excuse, "There's a restaurant here now." A little to late to sound convincing.

She laughed, "You two are so cute, I'll have to tell the baristas you two ended up together." With that she scampered off, unwitting of the bomb she had just dropped.

"I'll just leave you two lovebirds alone to discuss this recent turn of events." Allen grinned, grabbing Iroha from behind and whisking her off as well.

There was complete silence. Well, the fair still continued to wind down in the background but as long as the other stayed quiet, to them, it might as well have been pin-drop silence.

"…Soooo." Rio started.

His face twisted from shock to disgust and she grimaced, bad signed.

He wheeled on her, "Is that true?"

"Wh-what? N-no of course not." She stuttered.

"You come up to me saying you wanted to be friends but you've been stalking me for four years?" He asked.

Rio felt incredibly hurt, but then that was quickly replaced by anger. "NO." She said firmly. "I don't appreciate you accusing me of that when she said we both were guilty. It's like someone saying, 'you two robbed a bank' and you turning to me and saying 'how could you rob a bank?!'" She waved her arms around, "Doesn't make much sense does it?!"

"No, that comparison doesn't make much sense." He responded.

They were quickly spinning into an argument quite like the ones they stopped having a season ago. Luckily, the festival geared down after the main event and most of the people from out of town had already left.

Only a couple villagers remained watching the two go at it quite worriedly as they trickled out of the festival area.

Soon they were the only ones left in the empty field, both thoroughly frustrated and drained. "You know what? WHATEVER." Rio spat. "Why should I even justify myself to a creep like you?"

"Ditto." He said under his breath.

"I'm going home, enjoy being the piece of trash you are." She balled her fists and walked away, quite pleased with both having the last word AND leaving him all alone in the field.

Yes, she was quite satisfied with herself, until she found herself inside Iroha's workshop. The blacksmith looked at her in concern and that was all it took for her to burst out crying.

"You were so right." She sobbed.


	15. Chapter 15

**Okaaaay. Definity taking advantage of the T rating of this story here, some no-no words and bedtime humour. Younger readers have been warned. Sorry not sorry.**

**THIS CHAPTER IS THE SECOND OF TWO NEW CHAPTERS IN THE LAST TWO DAYS. IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE LAST CHAPTER YOU WILL BE CONFUSED. IF YOU LIKE BEING CONFUSED, FINE, JUST KEEP READING. WHATEVER YA WEIRDO.**

After the festival, Rio had told Iroha that whole story, in the least creepy way she could. That he did used to go to the café she studied at and that she had had a _slight_ crush on him.

Iroha had heard a part of their fight and to Rio's relief, seemed to have nothing but sympathy.

After that, the farmer did absolutely everything in her power to avoid him. Her heart ached every time she recalled the words he said to her. She had never been hurt in this way before and she didn't like it.

Though more so, she was still mad, and she clung to that anger desperately hoping it not get away. Being angry at him was easy. It felt much better than heart ache.

After all, he did not like her back and he had made that quite clear.

For the most part she stuck to her friends and surprisingly, found an amazing conversation partner in Trent.

The Doctor having been a royal, could relate to so much of her woes. She even found herself telling him all about Neil and in turn, he told her about his one-sided love with his nurse back in mineral town.

Occasionally she'd see Neil out of the corner of her vision, but would simply turn her head. Out of sight, out of mind.

Unfortunately he was her animal dealer. So two weeks later, she found herself standing reluctantly outside the town square. She took a deep breathe.

She stalked onto the scene and Neil glanced up briefly from his magazine, then did a double take. "Rio." He said in surprise.

"30 bags of chicken feed." The farmer ordered.

"Got it, but first-" He started.

"Just give me the feed Neil, 'don't quibble just buy' I believe is your shop's slogan." She said flatly.

Regretfully, he fulfilled her purchase and she nodded. "Ok later." She was almost home free to the forest when an arm pulled her back.

"Rio." He said, his hand on her arm was too tight for her to wiggle out of, she sighed and turned to him, steeling herself.

"What?" She said stiffly.

He looked away in shame. "I don't even know where to start just that I am so, so-"

"Don't!" She said in a panic and he blinked.

"Don't say sorry." She said with a shaky voice. No matter what she could not let him say sorry because she would forgive him. Her resolve would crumble and she would go right back to liking him unrequitedly. With Neil, there was either liking him or hating him there wasn't, as she had learned, any in between.

It was so much easier to be mad at him. "I'm… I'm not ready to forgive you yet. Or rather, I don't want to." She said looking away and tearing herself from his grip.

She began to walk away but he stopped her again. "Please." He said.

She bit her lip. "No." She stepped past him and continued to walk away.

"I'm sorry!" He called and she froze. Now he had done it.

She turned to him in annoyance, "I told you not to apologize." Her voice sounded as if it were trying to be angry but came out more pleading than anything else.

She winced at this betrayal of her body because this apparently seemed to give him some hope. "I am so so sorry. Sometimes I say things I REALLY don't mean. I just do and I hate myself for what I said to you nearly as much as you do."

She couldn't do this, she needed to re-ignite the fight. "You called me a lot of things: a stalker, a creep and a couple other things I'd rather not say out loud."

"I- I think you said the creep thing." He defended weakly.

"Only 'cause you started the fight!" She rose her voice.

He shook his head, "Listen, I see you're baiting me here to get the fight going again but it's gone. I don't want to fight you Rio."

"Neil. You were totally out of line last time." She said.

"I know, I know." He sighed. "I also knew that what lady said wasn't true."

It felt like something sharp was poking at her heart. _It was true. _"Well, then why did you even say that?!" She asked.

"I don't know, fight or flight you know? I was on autopilot, it's just my natural instinct to go on the attack instead I can't immediately think of a way to defend myself. I couldn't come up with a proper response so I turned on you…"

"You realize that this is just making you sound like a bigger dick right?" She said. She didn't use such heavy words often, so when she did they tended to really hit hard.

Neil was frozen in shock for a second. Rio crossed her arms.

I _am_ a dick." He agreed. "I know that. I really, really do." He looked at her pained, "I try not to be, but I am."

Rio felt a small tug of sympathy for him, that was her cue to go she COULD NOT fall for him again. She continued to exit into the forest and he paused at the entrance, sending a meaning nod back to Rod. Then he chased her in.

"I am the world's biggest dick." He announced loudly.

Horribly timed as it turned out. Emma, Camellia and Rebecca were just returning from their forest stroll. He cringed as they giggled past. Rio did her best to keep a straight face, to laugh was to loose here. He waited for the women to be long gone before he continued, slightly quieter. "Seriously. Call the Guinness book of world records and tell them their record has been broken." He said. "In the future under world's largest penis you will have my picture."

Rio rose an eyebrow, "Are you apologizing or hitting on me?"

He blushed, "That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Most guys would find it an honour to have their picture under that category." She said. "Doesn't really feel like your humbling yourself right now to apologize."

"Then I'll call them and say I have the smallest dick." He said firmly.

She couldn't help it, a small laugh erupted and she quickly struggled to return to poker face. She was beginning to feel awful. This was not things Neil would say, even apologizing this hard was somewhat out of character for him. He was pushing himself because apparently their friendship meant that much to him.

She had to think quickly, do something to make him give up. Then it hit her. "Do it." She said, crossing her arms.

"What?" He asked, missing a beat.

She voice was calm, and even. "Call. Them."

That was it. A test that Neil could never do, if there was anything he hated more in the world, it was feeling embarrassed she had noticed. Plus, he would turn red from the minutest things, a kiss on the cheek, a compliment, using slightly crude language to announce he was a dingbat in front of a couple older women. Not to mention how thrown he was by the café owner's story.

He stared at her in shock. Gauging whether she was serious or not.

"If I do that," He said slowly, "Will this all be behind us?"

"Why do you even care what I think?" She asked in annoyance.

"'Cause I do!" He snapped back.

"And it only took you two weeks to realize it." She said bitterly.

"It took me less than an hour actually, but by then you'd disappeared of the face of the earth." He said. "After that you had to have been avoiding me 'cause the only times I saw you, you were with that damn doctor!"

"Leave Trent out of this, you're mad at me not him!" She snapped.

He threw his arms up in exasperation, "No. I'm not! I don't know why you're trying so hard to make me be but I'm not! _You're _mad at me. We've fought like that lots of times so why are you so upset this time?!"

"Because you _hurt_ me." Her voice shook. "It hurt when you said all those things. It hurts now."

The look on his face was a painful mix of surprise and shame. "I'm sorry." He said again quietly.

She massaged her temple and they stood there for a minute. Finally he grabbed her hand, electricity spread up her arm at his touch despite her will. Then he pulled her along. "W-wait!" She said in confused alarm.

She thought he was taking her back to his stall but they past it, pausing only for him to tell Rod to watch the shop a little longer.

They stopped outside his house and she looked at him questioningly. "Wait here." He said firmly and she nodded.

While he was in the house it hadn't even occurred to her that she could escape. Not that she wanted to, she was way to confused and curious. _What on Earth was he up too?_

He stepped back out a couple minutes later, closing the door behind him, he pulled her along again and she glanced back at the house, utterly baffled. So she wasn't going inside?

The next stop was the general store. Dunhill, Kosaburo and Hana all looked up from their afternoon tea in surprise. Everyone in the village knew that Neil and Rio currently weren't speaking to one and other.

"So you two finally made up?" Asked Dunhill.

"No, but we're about to." He said and proceeded to ask Hana if they could use the phone. She pulled the old dial up out and plugged it into the town's only landline.

The pieces finally clicked together when Neil pulled out a number scrawled onto a fresh stickie note. Rio's eyes widened. **He. Was. Not.**

She shook her head. This was _Neil, _there was absolutely no way whatsoever that he was actually going to go through with this.

Neil took a deep breath in and out.

His face was getting redder by the second but he fumbled for the receiver and began to dial.

_He's going to hang up._ She thought. _He is definitely going to hang up before they answer-_

"Hello is this the Guinness book of world records?" He asked and then paused. "I would like to report-"

The line went dead as Rio pressed down on the hook, her body moving of its own volition. "You can't!" She said. "I didn't mean it. I was being immature!"

"And you forgive me?" He asked.

She paused just long enough for him to start dialing again, she slammed back on the hook, "Ok, ok I'll forgive you!" She agreed quickly.

He hung the phone back up with an "Oh thank Goddess."

"Rio." He said seriously. "I know what that lady said was all her own fantasy but I'm an idiot and I'm sorry. Plus, I think I would have known if it were true."

She nodded slowly. Heart slowly sinking. It _was_ true. She had liked him. She _still_ liked him. She could never say that now though could she? She wished he had never apologized. Now she couldn't avoid him, but she also could never love him.

He shook his head. "You know what?" He said. "I'm doing it." He picked back up the phone.

"Why?!" She asked in shock.

"I embarrassed you in front of a lot of people at that fair, including a couple of your fellow farmers and I know how much their opinions matter to you. Next to that saying something to a stranger on a phone is nothing."

He dialled the number again and she looked on, somewhat amused.

"Hey we got disconnected, sorry." He said.

"I wanted to report a new world record for uh…" He mumbled the next part inaudibly and was obviously asked to repeat what he just said. "World's smallest penis." He said with a red face.

Rio burst out laughing, muffling herself with her hand so the guy on the other end wouldn't hear.

He paused, still talking to the guy on the phone. "Uh….. one inch?" He said.

There was a longer pause. "Ah that isn't a record?" He sighed in relief.

"Yes sir, I will check the current record first next time."

"… Thank you."

Rio was on the floor, tears streaming down her cheeks. It hurt. Her chest hurt so much. The village's elders were watching on in shock.

"It _has_ been rough." Neil agreed with the other end.

"…. They laugh." He answered regretfully to an unheard question. "Every time. There's a girl here laughing at me right now in fact." He said glancing at Rio. That nearly put her over the edge. "They always tell me size doesn't matter but…. Apparently it does…."

"Alright thanks sir, bye." He hung out and Rio finally released all her laughter.

"Now, we are even." He said, face still impossibly hot.

He nodded to everyone in the shop without another word and then dragged the heaving farmer out. "OH MY GODDESS!" She said. "I cannot believe you did that."

"Me neither." He muttered.

She clung to his arm still giggling uncontrollably as they returned to the stall.

"I see you two made up." Rod said in amusement.

"He actually did it!" Rio said gleefully.

"Did what?" Rod blinked.

The farmer glanced at Neil and he nodded ruefully. All the confirmation she needed to split the entire phone call at the general store to the pet seller.

The two howled and Neil blushed. "Glad I could amuse you two." He muttered. A customer arrived at his stall and he went to service them, leaving Rod and Rio on their own.

"So you and Neil are 100% good again?" Asked Rod.

Rio sighed, "I can't stay mad at him after that." She answered regretfully.

"You know, that was pretty out of character for Neil." He commented. "I don't think he'd do that for anyone else. I KNOW he wouldn't for me."

"What are you getting at here?" Rio narrowed her eyes.

"Just that you're really special to him." Rod said honestly.

"Don't." Rio shook her head in annoyance, "Do not go down that road, it does not exist."

"Rio." Rod said seriously. "Allen told me. About how you really feel."

Rio spluttered in outrage. "WHAT?!" She groaned and slammed her forehead into her palm, "That red-headed blabbermouth! I can't believe- I told him it was a secret!"

Rod winked and stuck his tongue out, "Just kidding!"

"What?" The farmer blinked.

"Allen never said anything, but now I know." He grinned.

"Who." Rio almost whispered, "Who on earth corrupted you? Was it Neil or Allen?!"

"Actually Tina taught me that trick!" Rod grinned proudly.

"DO you have any positive influences?" Rio asked in dismay.

Rod just grinned. "Anyway, I know this is kind of weird coming from me but Neil's actually a pretty cool guy, you should give him a chance."

Rio frowned sadly, "It's the other person you need to be convincing." She glanced to where to object of their conversation was working. "If he asked… I think I'd give him everything I am in a heartbeat." She said, shocked by the truthfulness to her statement.

She tore her eyes from him.

"But he won't."

* * *

**I have never written anything like that ever. Or said anything like that to anyone. I'm actually pretty shocked at myself right now but you know know what? They're young adults, this seems like a rather realistic situation for young adults. I don't know. **

**... What has happened to me? What has changed in my life? It's that I finally caved to yaoi shipping isn't it? It was those shizaya fics wasn't it? My innocence. Gone. Like paper thrown in a fire. I mourn thee youth. I held onto you for so long then all it took was one or two yaoi fics in my nneteeth summer. Pandora's box has been opened. Fair thee well my childhood. T_T**

**CrimsonCrush- Haha love the switch from 'I'M GONNA BEAT HIM' to 'so cute :3~' OMG If you're gonna react so heavily to the fanfic y'all need to stop reading fanfiction around people. I say this because I worry about your public image ;)**

**MythicalLover908- Thanks for R&amp;R! I think at this point things are just deteriorating into all my deepest locked away boxes of crazy. To think it all started with two guys kissing and now we're here. Oh God what has happened to me?**

**Psycho Kay- I know right?! That was though thought! I really hope someday their children ask them about there first kiss too. Neil will do a spit-take, shake his head slowly,and just walk away. Leaving Rio to shuffled on the spot awkwardly. LOL pimp master Allen. That got me.**

**Number13teen- Haha, he might have liked it, though he might also have thought she was teasing him. Rod has really low self-esteem in the game, it's heart breaking. :( My poor puppy. **

**xLadyxChaosx- Yes. That was a good threat. I would definitely back away if someone said that too me. Also, glad you liked that whole Giselle bit, even if she was just the set up for some guest starring AllenxNeil. *update: apparently Neil says if I ever put his name even near Allen's in shipping format he will make it so I won't be able to type anymore. Message received no more NeilxAll- oh caught myself just in time***

**miramontastic- You were gone so looooong! But I have happily kept your favourite ship a float Ma'me! **


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello, so it's been awhile. I had to scrape this chapter out of me like one day old sauce out of a pot. This is kind of a crazy term for me so I'm not sure how active I'll be. Sorry in advance.**

"So you and your animal dealer made up."

Rio had just finished dumping the last packet of sugar in her coffee and paused, glancing up at the doctor.

"…Yeah." She said regretting that they were now of course on what was her number one 'I don't want to talk about' subject. Well, maybe he'd drop it there. She leaned forward on the table glancing around her little farmhouse. To this point, she had kept it so tidy but now little messes were beginning to show here and there.

A pot on top of the stove still waiting to be cleaned from last night's dinner, a little further off, the arm of a sweater draped carelessly over the overfilled laundry basket. It was all small little things but she had to turn back to Trent, unable to look at them. Everything was just so wrong. Well, not really but there was now this constant weight in her chest and it just made everything seem horrible, so different from just two seasons ago where she had felt so fresh and hopeful.

"Well that's a good thing right?" He asked in confusion.

I guess…" She admitted to her company. This was all Neil's fault. That dope had no idea either, the effect their friendship was having on her. He had no idea the attraction and longing she had to fight all day long. She had gone her entire adult life this far finding satisfaction in being alone. Not in the introverted way but romance was not something that had never been on the front burner.

Yet now she just wanted to be near him. She fantasized being able to hold his hand as they walked through the village, grinning and occasionally bumping shoulders playfully, she could almost imagine how warm and secure it would feel to nestle against him on a rainy or snowy day, or what it would feel like to have his hands run down and trace the sides of her face lovingly.

How creeped out he would be if he ever came to learn about these fantasies…

"I didn't want to forgive him but in the end, after everything-" She sighed. "I just-" She trailed off noticing the doctor check his watch.

He grimaced apologetically, "Where does the time go? I need to head over to Klaus' clinic."

She buried her anxieties again. "No problem." She grinned, "Best not be late, that man'll have your head." She didn't really understand why she was so desperate to spill her guts out to him anyway. Perhaps it was because he was the closest thing to a stranger. Someone who it wouldn't matter if they knew her more private thoughts or maybe it was the air of impartiality and professionalism he always carried.

"I hope I won't be seeing you until lunch." He said with humour.

She closed her eyes tiredly, "Believe me, after our last visit, Iroha and I will be doing everything in our power to stay clear of the hospital for a while."

He nodded in approval. "Well, that's good, though I really wish you'd start acting more out of concern of your own health rather than fear of getting scolded."

Rio resisted sticking her tongue out. If she had one complaint about him it was that he had a tendency to flip the doctor switch a little too often. Instead she rolled her eyes playfully and opened the front door in a grand gesture to show him out.

He smiled back before pausing, seeing something out the front door beyond her line of sight.

"Morning! Here to visit Rio?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah." A voice mumbled and her heart rate spiked. _Neil._

Trent shot Rio back a knowing smile, "Well then, I'll be seeing you."

Rio curled her fists at her sides, staring at the hard lines etched in the wood door. She watched the doctor exit, then her finger twitched at the distinctive sound of combat boots on hard wood.

She took a deep breath in before looking up to greet him.

"Neil!" She beamed. "Good morning!"

"Hey." He said quietly. Those brilliant red eyes met hers and she bit the inside of her cheek in a feeble attempt to fight the electricity shooting through her veins.

He shuffled on the spot. "Fodder's been delivered to the barn."

She thanked him and he walked over to the dining table. The milk was still out so she grabbed a clean cup and poured him a glass. The liquid shook slightly as she poured, something she hoped the blond man didn't notice. To cover up her sheepish excitement, she smiled at him, "So how was your day?"

He looked at her funny and she immediately wanted to kick herself, the day hadn't even started yet. "I mean the previous day." She covered.

"Okay." He nodded.

She glanced away as he quietly drank his milk, straightening up the flowers at the table's center agitatedly. There she was again, reduced to a bumbling fool – just like she had been the first time she met him.

She dared herself to glance at him. In fact, it was even harder than before she knew him, because now she could afford to look at him up close…. For example, now she could see he had a freckle on his left collar bone, which she determined to be rather charming. She ever so slightly shook her head to abandon those border-line disturbing observations.

"Uh." He finally said breaking the silence. "What was the doctor doing here?"

Her mind raced. Was he jealous?

"Why?" She asked as innocently as she could.

"If you're sick I don't want to get it." He said after a couple seconds pause.

Her heart sank. Of course, she knew that would be the type of response she'd get. She'd half-hoped for some sort of, 'I feel uneasy when other men visit you at home' or would have even settled for something along the lines of a blush and flustered silence.

"Of course not." She said, "He was just visiting. Trent and I are friends."

"Didn't you say you two didn't talk in college?" He asked.

"Well, yeah but now we have the whole being HM alumnis as common ground. We have a lot we can talk about too." She smiled. "We even knew some of the same people and had some of the same professors it turns out."

"Uh huh." He said disinterestedly.

She frowned, Of course he didn't really care.

Neil opened his mouth but she'd never know what he was about to say because just then the door swung open.

One would think four years would prepare her for this but Rio could only blink in surprise. "Chelsea?" She asked dumbly.

Her former roommate stalked into the room. "Hey Rio, how's it going?" She asked distractedly. Rio only continued to stare in shock. Chelsea however, didn't seem to really be expecting any response, instead she beelined straight for the kitchen and began opening and closing cupboards.

"What are you doing here?" Rio finally managed, standing up to hover behind the other farmer in concern.

"A nothing much, visiting a friend before heading to the city." Chelsea said dismissively. She pulled out a small bag and shook it, "I'm gonna sell my seeds."

"Now?" Rio asked.

The brunette finished up her search in the kitchen and heading to the tool box, she hardly stopped to register Neil, ruffling his hair. "Cute blond where's you get him?" She asked. She didn't really wait for an answer though before she moved on.

"Did something happen?" Rio asked worriedly.

"Did something happen." Chelsea shook her head as if the question were ridiculous. "What _didn't_ happen? Got to tell you, these little things cause me way more trouble then what they are worth... well... sort of. They're worth a lot."

"Really Chelsea, is something wrong?" Rio frowned.

"Nothing to worry yourself about, I'm sure it'll all be covered in the sequel/spin-off either way. No point recapping here."

"Sequal?" The blonde blinked.

"What you don't think I'll get one?" She asked, finally pausing while being seemingly offended. "I'd like to think I'm interesting enough." She shook her head indignantly while tapping on various floor boards.

It was official, Chelsea had finally crossed the thin line from genius to insanity.

The other farmer paused, finally taking in Rio's silence, and promptly misinterpreting it. "Okay I get it, maybe I'm not the most relatable character. But nowadays that's what the people want! Look at Sherlock Holmes, Sheldon Cooper... the entire cast of Boston Legal! Insanity is in as long as you're also smart! People are sick of themselves and sick of the same character copied and pasted everywhere. I just need to slip in my human side every now and again, maybe cry once in a moment of vulnerability and I'm good."

Overall dissatisfied with her search she returned to the kitchen, pulling a cereal box off the shelf and pouring the minuscule seeds in with the flakes. "I'll sort them back out later." She promised and returned the box where she found it. "I'm going to go check into the inn now, in the meantime- I was never here."

She glanced at Neil, "Goldy," She addressed him seriously. "Say it with me, 'I was never here.'"

He gawked at her.

"Good enough." She nodded and made her exit.

The two were silent for a few seconds before, finally finding his voice, Neil turned to Rio. "Who the hell was that?"

"My old roommate." Rio said, "The one I said was courting the other animal dealer."

Neil shook his head, thinking it was probably the first time he ever felt sympathy for someone else.

* * *

Lunch hour came by and Rio met with Chelsea and Trent at the restaurant. Chelsea surprisingly already knew him as he apparently made a couple appearances on her own island.

"So uh… how long are you staying?" Asked Rio.

Chelsea smirked, "Why you want me gone already?"

"No of course not! The blonde objected.

"I know, I know." She consoled, "Just tonight and I'm back on the road."

"That fast?" Trent asked.

"Well, I should probably keep moving, you'd never guess it but carrying around something worth a couple million leaves you rather vulnerable." She shrugged.

"Sounds like there's a story there." Trent blinked.

"And one I already said I'm not going to spoil." Chelsea crossed her arms.

As Rio was finally about to address this weird fourth wall talk she was distracted by movement at the front door. Neil entered and Rio gulped.

Chelsea reeled around in her seat to look over her shoulder. "Hey it's Goldy." She grinned.

"Yeah." Rio agreed quietly.

Chelsea's eyebrow knit as she looked back to Rio. The blonde shuffled under her scrutiny. Her eyes flashed in realization. "You two aren't dating are you?"

"Wha-?! No, of course not!" Rio objected.

"Then what was he doing at your house?" She asked.

"He's my animal dealer, he was delivering fodder."

Chelsea stared at her and she scratched her chin nervously.

"You like him don't you?" She asked slyly.

Rio sighed in defeat… "Maybe." She admitted. "Doesn't matter, it's not reciprocated."

"And how do you know that?" The brunette rose an eyebrow.

"I think I'd know." She said.

"And I think you wouldn't. I on the other hand can figure it out." She began to stand up and Rio paled, grasping at her arm. The clatter of the plates on the table caused some of the more nearby customers to glance over. Rio waved them off in embarrassment and flushed at Chelsea.

"Whatever you're about to do- please don't." She begged.

"I know what I'm doing." She said, shaking her off. She then turned to Trent, "You know the who's on first base joke?"

"Vaguely." He admitted.

"Then when I leave start telling it. Rio you laugh" They nodded blankly and she stalked over to Neil, taking the chair across from him. He glared at her when she started talking to him but she just laughed and pushed on.

Trent cleared his throat. "So uh… funny names on the HM University baseball team huh?"

"How so?" Asked Rio, returning her attention to him with a slightly amused smile. He blanked and she giggled, "You've already forgotten the script huh?"

"Yes." Trent apologized. "I know the punchline though."

"I'll try to help you through to there then." She winked. "Start from the beginning."

"Funny names on the HM University baseball team huh?" He asked.

"How so? Give an example." She said.

"Well, Who's on first." He said.

"Yeah, tell me." She said.

"Who." He said.

"The guy on first?" She asked.

"Who." He said.

Then they both paused. "This doesn't seem right I think we've butchered this joke." Rio admitted.

They paused for a moment and then both began to laugh. She had to place her head on the table but immediately froze as she remembered the point of the exercise.

"Is he looking?" She asked Trent.

"Ah..." He frowned.

"Yeah I figured." She sighed and glanced back to the pair at the other table, Neil's attention was still with the animated brunette. She stood up to dismiss herself and the two quickly diverted their attention back as Chelsea made her way over.

"Well." She said as she sat down.

"I told you." Rio sighed.

Chelsea looked at her for a second. "What are you talking about? That guy is clearly in love with you."

"What?" Rio's face reddened.

Chelsea shook her head, "Sometimes I wonder what it's like in other people's heads. I mean, wasn't he _obvious_?" Trent and Rio looked at her vacantly and she sighed, shaking her head. "Well for one, he was purposely NOT watching you and Trent."

"How do you know he wasn't just not looking?" Asked Trent. He paused. "Uh, sorry Rio."

"He's the quiet subtle type- when you started laughing his eyes flickered over for a fraction of a second before he _caught _himself and looked back to me. He was TOO focused on me for someone who doesn't really care to be nice to strangers. Plus, people wouldn't think it's weird to glance at people making a ruckus, but he must have been fighting looking your way."

"I'm confused." Rio admitted.

Chelsea sighed again. "I'm saying he LIKES you Rio. So what are you going to do?"

Rio's face heated. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" Chelsea asked in bewilderment.

"Well, Iroha kind of opened my eyes earlier, he's not good for me, I shouldn't bother."

"Well I think you should. So now one friend thinks you should and one thinks you shouldn't. That once again puts you as the deciding vote."

Rio laughed nervously, "Is this the point where you tell me to follow my heart?"

Chelsea scoffed, "Of course not, what's that useless pump going to do for you? Follow your gut."

"…My gut." Rio repeated.

"I'll have you know the brain is highly overrated, your gut is where all the important decisions get made." Chelsea nodded and pointed to her stomache, "What does your gut feeling tell you?"

She sighed and closed her eyes, feeling an invisible force deep in her chest attempt to tug her across the room. "Maybe…" She started. "Maybe I should at least try."

"Great!" Chelsea clapped her hands in excitement.

"So what exactly do I do?" She asked.

"Well, not too much. Just continue doing what you're doing." Chelsea shrugged.

"That's it?" Rio blinked.

"Basically, your relationship's been progressing well enough. Though he's the kind who might wait years to get the confidence. I can speed up the process, he'll be in your arms in less than two weeks."

"How?" Rio asked.

"Well, we've already established he's slightly jealous of Trent. So you can hang out with him." Chelsea said, "This will give him the false sense of urgency. Now just note- you're not playing hard to get, and you're not faking liking the good ol' doctor here. We want him to feel like he's got a good chance, otherwise he'll just give up. Then it's just a matter of opportunity- I got you covered there don't worry about it for now."

"Are you okay with that?" Rio asked Trent.

The doctor nodded. "It's not like I'll have to go out of my way."

Rio nodded her head in nervous resolution. "Okay then."

**CrimsonCrush- As I messaged you. Please don't do that to a guy XD I swear, if I'm going to have to put 'don't do this at home' warnings on my story 'cause of you...**

**xLadyxChaosx- Yeah, Neil probably didn't think that through, pretty sure he would have hung up if they started asking his contact info. Or who knows, he's clearly not as predictable as we thought.**

**Psycho Kay- HAPPY LATE LATE LATE BIRTHDAY! Ehehehe... well, better late than never. Yeah, I'm not sure I approve of Tina's influence on Rod, he's like a highly susceptible little sponge puppy. With goggles.**

**CheetosPotato- Well, if those TacoBell guys were sleeping on the job they should thank you for waking them up. XD**

**Number13teen- Hmm, I used to think that pairing was warped too but... I wanted to ship Izaya with someone, but there weren't any girls in the anime I liked, no OCs were up to my standards and I thought, is there anyone that can match Izaya? So I turned to the darkside. Some of the top fanfictions for Shizya are very good and I've been converted. Plus they're always together in the official art, the company is milking this fandom. **

**XxBlue and CrimsonxX- Yeah, from the outside it seems pretty obvious but sometimes its a little hard to tell when its happening to you. I think people are skeptical by nature. **

**Guest-Yeah, a little. I just didn't want to sugar coat his personality. Plus if you look objectively, he wasn't really being to mean, mostly just seemingly disinterested at first - Rio was just reacting to everything sensitively since this interaction meant so much to her.**

**SoundlessWorld- Aww thanks XD For a second I thought this review was going to go a very different way "[I want to say this is good but honestly...]" LOL. I get what you mean, and I totally get that for me at first writing reveiws felt like the most awkward thing in the world. Like yearbook comments. Ug, glad I don't have those anymore. You can love a person, but when it gets down to writing a comment you just blank. Anyway, always appreciate a good head pat :P**

**TheFault-InOurMinds- And with some ado, here was the next chapter! I'd like to say "and I love writing every moment of this story" but that's not entirely true. Hehe Thanks for reading**

**Miramontastic- YUUUUP. I was skeptic too it kind of hit me when I was super tired and was having a lot of random thoughts, and I was like, nah that's weird and not my style but then I kind of thought maaaybe I should. this story's rated T after all. It seemed realistic though, cause since I've come to uni, it's all people seem to joke about. You read homestuck though so this should feel tame. **

**Maplefrost-232- Don't distress! Especially not in public, lol, what is with you guys? Also, thank you so much that is so sweet XD I'll try to update where and when I can but I've got a lot of stuff going on. Applying to jobs, getting rejected from jobs, studying for midterms, dying in midterms, writing labs, messing up labs. **

**Cyanote**


	17. Chapter 17

Rio shivered, wishing for a moment that she had gloves. Instead, she settled for the next best thing, jamming her hands in the pockets of her thin coat and moving a little brisker. It was an unseasonably cold day- or rather, it was already past mid-fall, she realized with the same shock she received every year that maybe this was to be the norm. She shivered again, wondering how she'll ever survive winter.

Naturally, being a plant enthusiast, winter was her most dreaded time of the year. She didn't fare well in the cold either, she was too thin, and it felt like the wind just blew right through her. Hopefully the acquired muscle from farm work would do her some good.

Chelsea was long gone. True to her word, she only stayed in town a night before coming back for her seeds and leaving- as often the case, leaving Rio entirely confused. Had Chelsea not said she'd edge her relationship along? Provide an 'opportunity' for a confession when the time came? The brunette farmer definitely did not forget, and she always follows through with her promises. This was one thing Rio did not miss: always being out of the loop.

A gust flew by and she tucked her chin down with another shiver. To think she was going to have to endure the cold all the way to the mines! She wasn't even out of town yet!

She paused as she past the stalls in the village square, eyeing Neil as he worked. She had been following through with Chelsea's advice, continuing hanging out with Trent in public places. She felt horrible about using the doctor like that but she was only spending time with him- something she would have done anyway. Though between her work, Trent and her get-togethers with Allen and Iroha, she hadn't really had any time to give Neil much attention.

It might just have been her imagination, but he seemed to be brooding more than usual. Maybe he really did miss her. Or maybe not. Why did he have to be so confusing? Imagine how easy things could have been if someone like Rod was her type.

She paused, still conflicted. On one part she really wanted to go talk to him. One the other… He'd probably bite her head off for bugging him during work, and it meant standing longer out in the cold.

Well, no progress could be made if she didn't make a conscious effort. She walked over to the animal stall and grinned cheerfully.

Neil glanced up at her. "Hey."

"Hi!" She smiled.

There was a silence.

"What do you need?" He finally prompted.

"Oh… uh.. nothing? I just thought I'd say hi since I was passing by…." She admitted, then she held her breath, preparing herself for the ever-familiar glare.

Neil looked entirely thrown for a moment. Considering his slogan 'don't quibble just buy' most of his customers knew better by now. Rod even had to turn at this bold statement, pity welling in his heart for the poor farmer about to receive a tongue lashing.

He tried to make a scowl but it came out more confused and conflicted than annoyed. "You…" He struggled out. Then, he sighed. "Hey."

Rio blinked, finding that response way more positive than she'd ever expected. She glanced over to Rod who looked one part shocked, one part proud. He gave her a quick nod and a grin.

Simply not being yelled at should not have made her this giddy. "How has it been going?" She asked.

"Good." He admitted. "Business is picking up now. People are transitioning to animal care for the winter."

"Ah." Rio cringed. "Winter… please don't say that. It's not coming yet."

Neil almost smiled. "I guess _you _wouldn't like winter."

She smiled sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck, "Well you know…"

"Rio!" Exclaimed a voice.

Rio turned, noticing Trent jogging over. The doctor was without his usual clothes, instead outfitted in a fitted blue running shirt with some tight black pants. Of course he was a runner, she wasn't at all surprised. Neil sniffed in irritation, deciding to busy himself with some boxes under the counter.

"Trent." She acknowledged. "Shouldn't you be working right now with Klaus?"

"I take a break out of every day to run. It's very important to keep active." He smiled.

"You strike me as a runner to be honest." She laughed. She wasn't sure why though that she was surprised to see how fit the doctor was, with tight muscles you didn't usually see under his sweaters. He was an unexpectedly attractive man with a wonderful personality and a beautiful smile that showed off his perfectly white teeth.

Kind, smart, good-looking… So why was it she just wasn't into him? Why did it have to be the grump to steal her heart?

"You're not wearing your hat." He commented.

She pat the top of her head unconsciously, not of course, expecting to feel anything there. "No, it was a little too windy today." She replied.

"Well. You look very nice." He said in all modesty.

"…Is this a roundabout way of saying you don't like my hat?" Rio asked dryly.

Unfortunately, she'd never hear his answer and would spend the next couple days agonizing over whether her hat was as stylish as she thought it was- since that was when Neil decided to interrupt them.

"How long are you two going to stand there?" He snapped.

"Oh," said Trent in surprise, "Not long… I need to uh, get back to my run anyway."

"You do that. I don't appreciate loitering." The blond said stiffly.

The doctor exchanged an awkward look with Rio and she looked away, scratching her nose in embarrassment. _Yes Trent. This is the guy I like._

He said his goodbyes, then continued on.

Although Rio had wanted Neil to be jealous, annoyance welled up inside her and she turned on Neil, "You know, you don't need to always treat people like that. I don't understand why you do that."

Neil scoffed, unable to look her in the eye. "I am who I am." There seemed to be just a fraction of hurt in his voice. "If you're not going to buy anything… I could you just leave?"

"I ... I know you're a really good person Neil." She said sadly. "I just want everyone to see that."

He frowned, clearly not sure what to say.

"Tina!" They heard Rod greet.

The newspaper reporter nearly skipped over, "Guys! Guess what!"

"What?" Asked Rio.

Tina pouted, "No one ever guesses. Anyway, Clement agreed to hosting an open mic night on Thursday!"

Rio grimaced, "I don't really sing."

"You don't need too!" Tina protested, "Come anyway! The whole town'll be there! It's going to be so much fun- I can't wait!"

"Well, I guess." Rio agreed.

Tina grinned in triumph, and then her smile curled up mischievously. "By the way, I just past the doctor. Did you _see_ that body?"

Rio deciding to play ignorant scrunched her nose, "Ew, how could you check out Klaus?"

Tina chocked and then shook it off and nudged the blonde. "You know exactly who I'm talking about- Dr. McDreamboat, the guy you've been spending SO much time with lately."

A rock felt like it was sinking in her chest. She didn't even think about what the rest of the village would think. "No…" She said feebly, "We're not…"

"Come on Rio, tell me how you scored that brainy hunk." Tina interjected.

"I didn't… we're not…" Rio frowned.

Tina though, wasn't listening, instead zoning in on Iroha and Allen up ahead, "Whoops! Sorry Rio! Talk to you about this later- I gotta keep on spreading the word about Thursday!" She dug into her newspaper bag, quickly fling two flyers at Rio and Neil, then one to Rod before running off.

She sighed and turned back to Neil, He was looking over the flyer disinterestedly. "You know I'm not-" She paused when he didn't look up at her.

"Neil?" She asked. He ignored her. "Is something wrong?"

"I already told you to scram Rio." He said quietly.

She grimaced. She couldn't leave like this. Not if he believed what Tina had said. Though it seemed like anything she said would make her interest in him obvious.

Then a very different chill crept up her spine. Maybe… she should. Why did it have to be up to Neil to make the first move?

"Um I just wanted to say…" She started before she chickened out. Her voice shock and her heart banged against her chest.

Even Neil could hear the change, he looked up in worry.

She could feel her face heating up. "Uh… Trent and I aren't a thing, and never will be. I'm not interested and he's not interested."

"Ok…" He said.

"It's just very important _you_ know that." She struggled out.

His eyes widened and she bit her lip, she did not run off though, she had too much self control… Instead she simply walked away… very quickly.

She paused a couple seconds later, glancing back at the stalls. Regretting it when she made eye contact with Neil who had turned in shock to watch her go.

She swiftly turned and headed into the forest. Well, she wasn't cold anymore.

The ball was in his court now.

* * *

**Good on you Rio. Funny story- I had been selected to have an interview for a greenhouse and Agriculture research facility this week and I just thought, wow, Rio would be so proud. I mean, I totally blew it- they were definitely more so looking for chemists too but- I just thought it was funny how closely the job correlated with Rio's interests. Or maybe it's not that funny. Who knows**

**CrimsonCrush- Chelsea's plans ALWAYS work out will scary accuracy, you'll see. :) Yeah, it always feels good hammering a chapter out it gives the illusion of productivity. Believe me, will the amount of time I've spent of this one lab, I needed this.**

**Savitron5- At least this was sooner XD Sorry I've not really had much time recently.**

**Peachie- Can't we all. LOL. Yeah, Chelsea's a tonne of fun to write... though I think I'd take a lot of patience on Rio's side to always put up with her antics... poor Vaughn**

**Psycho Kay- OMG haha, That kinda twist isn't my style. I don't think it'll be too much longer ;) **

**CheetosPotato- Yup, 'purposely not looking', a powerful new confidence boosting tool to add the your repertoire. **

**Cyanote- Yeah, I'm definitely trying to air more on the realistic side this time around. Which is tough, it's so easy to just fill in exciting dramatics like... *coughs nervously* escaping a storm and falling asleep on a bear to add quick relationship boosts.**

**AllShadesOfGreen- Aww thank you so much, glad to hear your input! I don't even know what to say to so much praise *blushes* LOL, thanks though, it's been a rough couple weeks... months. This really helped.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hello... It's me. It's been awhile. I think. Well it felt like an ETERNITY. I had been wanting to write this chapter for so long but when it came to writing it I got pulled away with school and when I finally got through exams- I was completely off my writing groove. It's a little frustrating but I am going to try and pull these chapters from me now and hopefully it'll get a little easier, I want to get a couple done by the 4th, not sure how possible that is. We'll see :)**

The blacksmith shut her eyes with a suppressed sigh, furiously rubbing her temples, trying to alleviate some of the pre-stress from what was undoubtedly about to go down. It was all she could do to remove the pained expression on her face she had been wearing since she first made this silly decision. It was just… She shook her head again. It had to be_ him_ didn't it? She had never thought herself to be weak willed but finally standing outside the salon she almost turned around. The building was deceptively modest on the outside with its baby blue coat of paint and miniature flower gardens, not at all reflecting its interior which was as bright and pompous as its owner.

To be entirely honest, she had never liked people like him- as to how she felt about the stylist himself, well, the jury was still out on that one. He was just too smug, too arrogant, too completely condescending. Yet in some ways people might say he was her best friend. Their 'friendship' was mostly built upon the simple fact that Rio trusted/liked him. Then again, Rio got along with everyone just a little too much. The farmer was also always incredibly, incredibly busy so most of the time the Rio/Iroha/ Allen trio would often be the Allen/Iroha duo.

She spent more time alone with him than anybody else, and half the time he'd just tease her on her feelings for his childhood friend. Always offering his assistance in the haughtiest of ways. Yet, she wondered how serious he actually was on his offer. After that whole confusion with Rio she had been ready to hand Rod over, it was her own fault after all for not even trying to court him. Though now this was her second chance and there is nothing she had less respect for than 'not trying'. She should put herself more out there, so next time she wouldn't have to imagine him with someone else.

Though for that she'd need help…..

Thus why she was there.

She finally got right up to the front door and sighed. Conversations with him were exhausting, especially if, Goddess forbid, he had something to hold over you. No doubt the second she walked in, he'd look up without the faintest hint of surprise, or rather, he probably take one look at her and know exactly why she came, after all he knew she'd come eventually, and even if he didn't he'd pretend he did.

He was a compulsive liar who just loved to watch others squirm. If he knew, he'd pretend he didn't, if he didn't, he'd pretend he did is what she had come to gather.

She was not disappointed when she walked in. Oceanic blue eyes met hers behind the frames of his glasses. "Well, well. If it isn't my good friend Iroha?" He said with an insincere 'what are you doing here' smile. "I was starting to feel lonely, you never visit."

"Good afternoon Allen." She said politely

His long dark lashes could not hide the knowing glint in his eyes, "I wonder what possessed you to come see little old me?"

He wanted to make her squirm but she wasn't going to give him that type of satisfaction, they both knew why she was there it seemed, so there was no reason for her to dance around it. "You know why." She blushed despite those mighty thoughts, it wasn't easy to say.

She prepared for him to prod further but was surprised when he didn't.

He sighed and removed his glasses, pulling a thin silk cloth from his pockets to clean the lenses "You look so pained my dear. Any optometrist would say I have poor eye sight." He said simply and looked straight at her. "But even I can see, despite our friendship, you don't like me very much do you?"

"Wha-" She protested. "Of course I d-"

"Save it." He waved her off.

She almost felt guilty. For a heartbeat. Then any of that disappeared as his nasty smirk re-appeared, "So you've sunk far enough to come to _me_ for help. A little desperate are we?"

Iroha's eye twitched. "W-well I thought that this was the more noble path than standing idle."

Allen sighed and shook his head and she frowned in confusion, "So could you offer me your assistance?" She asked hopefully.

His smile unnerved her as he eyed her down. "Hmm let's see." He said in a sing song voice, "Maybe if you ask cutely~?"

"Excuse me?" She asked indignantly.

"It's so boring if you ask like that, I can't see you squirm at all!" He said in exasperation.

She froze, torn between leaving and staying. Her decision caught him off guard. "P-please?" She asked with a half-smile.

He looked dumbfounded for a second and she secretly relished in that moment. He had thought she'd walk. It felt good to one up him for once even if it meant degrading herself to that.

The moment didn't last long and his expression quickly turned to something similar to the sadistic glee of a three year old finding an ant hill to crush, "So you can make those expressions after all!" He commented.

"So will you help me?" she asked.

"It's going to have to be cuter than that display." He scoffed.

She bat her eyes and tilted her head sideways, cheeks burning in humiliation. "Please?" She squeaked out.

He smiled smugly. "Not bad blacksmith. Honestly I'm impressed, careful how you use that weapon of yours or I might just fall for you myself"

She rolled her eyes but he seemed to enjoy that too. "Alright," He finally said then smirked, "I'll lend you my assistance, feel honoured."

Iroha sighed, both content and dissatisfied with her decision to enlist him.

0o0o0o0o

After her quasi-confession Rio had felt elated, she finally did it! By the look of Neil's surprise she had gotten her feelings across! Naturally though it took less than an hour alone with her thoughts to slip into a combination of despair and incredible embarrassment.

The longer she thought about it, the more she fretted. _If Neil liked you too he would have responded by now_\- a voice in her head kept whispering in repeat.

It was two days later and she still hadn't seen or heard from him… although at the same time she _might_ have been avoiding being anywhere in eye sight of his house or the stall.

On one hand she wanted to get this next interaction done with as quickly as possible. Knowing Neil, he might just ignore the whole thing, and she'd have been worrying this whole time over nothing. Yet the very first voices she'd hear in her head anytime she saw what could even possibly be a red coat seemed to unanimously yell at her to flee.

It was Thursday, and thus the day of karaoke night at Clement's. Surely if she just survived the day she could enjoy herself and take her mind off this whole thing for just one blessed night.

She sighed wistfully for the surprisingly less stressful days of college, where her largest concern was whether or not her banana samples for her thesis would propagate. School work always sorted itself out in the end. She was less certain of the current situation.

She had finished watering her last plant from the very highest terrace of her farm and put down the heavy watering can, stretching out her aching back. It was a pretty nice day, that kind of temperature where you could be cozy in a sweater or light jacket.

She plopped down at the terrace edge and oversaw her farm, watching the little white dots that were her chickens wander around sporadically.

It was pretty peaceful.

For a couple seconds.

A figure entered the farm from the village's dirt road.

Neil.

Rio gripped the grass below her hands so tightly it was unearthed. What should she do? Should she go down and greet him? Somehow she was rooted in place.

He was carrying some feed she had purchased much earlier in the week before the whole ordeal. He carried the bags to the barn, struggling after entering through the feeding enclosure less from the weight of the bags as from being swarmed by the animals.

Despite everything she cracked a smile at his expense. Poor guy.

He managed to twist his way around the larger animals, mindful of the chickens at his ankles and got into the barn, closing the door behind him. Lait stood outside the door, pressing her face against the wood. Rio giggled.

He emerged a minute later unburdened by his load. This time he begrudgingly welcomed the mob, stroking the larger mammals and picking up one of the chickens. She was too far away, she realized with disappointment. What kind of face was he making? How could anyone receive so much love and not be beaming? His smile… She never seen him make one of those large boyish smiles- just the thought of it made her grin. It would probably be so pretty to see his ruby eyes glimmer.

He finally left the animals behind as he exited the enclosure and she watched him in interest. What was he going to do now? What would his decision mean? Ordinarily, he'd go visit her.

She held her breath as he reached that point where he'd either head to the house or make his way back to town.

…

He continued on to the house. She was elated. She hopped up with a start realizing perhaps a little too late the obvious fact that although he was going to visit her, _she _was not in the house. As she hurried down she acknowledged that he probably wasn't interested in her. She gave him the green light two days ago and he never went for it. Though at this point, just the thought that they may be able to go on like before, continue being friends was enough for her. This whole confession was a serious mistake. She wouldn't be able to handle it if he started treating her different. Her breath picked up as she rushed.

He reached the door as she reached ground level. She could make it to him if she jogged.

He reached to knock at the door and she broke into a sprint.

His wrist paused a moment before his knuckles made contact with the door.

She stopped dead in her tracks. He paused there for a second before retracting his arm and simply stood still.

Her heart sunk. What was he doing? Just knock!

He appeared to sigh before jamming his fists in the large pockets of his coat and briskly walking away. Not seeing the farmer as he headed back out to town.

She sat down in the flat fields of crops, not caring about how the damp soil saturated the material of her overalls. What had she done?

She got through the rest of the day half-heartedly foraging mushrooms.

The event she was so looking forward to now seemed less important. It struck six thirty and she sighed. The event was starting now. She was technically late. Maybe she just shouldn't go. She could stay home, maybe catch up on sleep.

As she thought this she was already out the door. Somehow she was able to move even with no motivation, she owed it to Tina and her friends to show up. She readied herself to smile as she approached the restaurant. Tomorrow she'd probably not be looking at this so seriously and she'd be clear headed. She just needed to pretend to be alright tonight.

The town was packed into the little restaurant, there wasn't a lot of room to move, it reminded her of the clubs Chelsea sometimes dragged her too, she weaved around the crowd with some difficulties, wishing she had her friend's uncanny ability to separate out crowds and soon found Iroha and Allen at a little side table. The tables were all focused around a little makeshift stage, no more than a couple wooden flats lain out beside one and other. Care was still apparent though in the way they were meticulously spray-painted black. Tina was already up, belting her heart out to Taylor Swift. She surprisingly wasn't horrible. As bad as that might be to say, see seemed like the kind of character that goes up for comic effect.

"Surprised you got to us with all these people." Allen smirked.

"Hey Rio." Iroha acknowledged.

Rio took a deep breath and gave a half-hearted smile. "Hey." She took the chair they saved and turned back to the stage. "So what did I miss?"

"Rod." Allen sighed, removing his glasses to clean at invisible dirt. "Count yourself lucky."

"I was quite impressed." Iroha objected.

"It's Rod." Allen quipped, "He could have been entirely tone-deaf singing the wheels on the bus and you still would have been impressed."

Iroha just glared at this statement.

"So are you going to sing anything Rio?" Asked Allen.

"Absolutely not." Rio immediately shot down.

Allen laughed. "Well, I figured you wouldn't."

Rod walked by and Allen nudged Iroha, "Don't you think you should go tell him he did a good job?"

Iroha turned red, "Wha-? I-"

The stylist sighed again, "You're surprisingly a scaredy cat, blacksmith."

"I am not!" She objected and marched off.

Rio watched her go in surprise. "Wow, I really didn't expect her to play into your taunt like that."

Allen shrugged, "You should know by now that despite her serious demeanor, she's actually a bit naïve." Rio thought she saw him smile a bit.

"Anyway, now that she's distracted, what's with you?" He asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Hunny, I know girls. I'm a stylist I get distressed females coming to me all the time. Something happened and you are _dying_ to spill."

"Well why did you ward off Iroha?" She asked.

"…It really doesn't take a genius to figure out who you're upset about."

"…"

"You can tell me." He urged.

"I may have told Neil I liked him." She admitted. "…Two days ago. I saw him delivering the animal feed today… but he couldn't bring himself to go to the house to talk to me. I've messed everything up haven't I?" Once said out loud, it was clear how ridiculous her decision was in the first place.

"I swear you two have had more drama this year than a soap opera." He shook his head. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. He went to so much effort recently just to win you back he's not going to just stop talking to you now."

She was unconvinced, but gave him a weak smile anyway. "Thanks.. This helped." She said.

Iroha came back a second later with a slight blush. "There. Don't you dare underestimate me." She said to Allen. He pat her head appraisingly, casting Rio a sideways smirk the raven haired woman did not catch.

A moment after the song ended, a brunette reporter bounced to their table. "Hey guys!" Tina squealed, "Did ya hear me? Did you?"

"Yes. You were quiet good." Iroha nodded.

"I didn't know you could sing." Rio smiled. "I'm always so impressed by people with musical talents. I'm… kinda sorta completely tone-deaf."

Tina laughed, "Aw you flatter me."

A flash in the crowd behind Tina caused Rio pause. Neil was there.

Of course the whole village was there she should have expected to see him but… somehow she just assumed he wouldn't show. He caught her eye for half a second before looking away and finding Rod. Her heart sunk as she watched the pet sellor joyfully put an arm around him. Rod pointed at the stage with a grin, appearing to be trying to convince him on. Of course that wasn't going to work.

"Rio, you okay?"

Rio's attention snapped back to the table, Tina looked at her worriedly, "Uh, sorry. What?" The farmer apologized.

"Felicity is here taking orders." Tina said.

It was only then that Rio noticed the waitress. "Oh wow, I didn't even-" Rio shook her head, "Actually I just got here, is it the usual menu or?"

The waitress shook her head, "Oh no of course not!" She grinned, "A special night demands a special menu!" She explained before proceeding to walk Rio through the options, the blonde nodded, not feeling particularly hungry. In the end she just ordered a soda.

"That stuff is just pure sugar." Allen said, turning up his nose.

"Exactly why I like it." She grinned.

At that moment, there was a little commotion near the empty stage.

"Come oooonnn Neil! Just do it!" Rod begged, tugging on the animal dealer's arm. For whatever reason, Neil blushed furiously.

"What? No!" He protested.

"Just go up and sing out your feelings!" Rod grinned spanning out his arms. "You're so closed off man- you'll be like a ticking feelings-bomb."

Rio crinkled her brow at the odd simile. "Is Rod alright?"

Allen laughed, "Part of the special menu is some 'liquid courage'" The stylist explained, slightly lifting his own bottle. "Poor guy, Rod can be very stubborn when he's like that."

"Just one song!" Rod begged and then whisper-spoke something to the blond they were too far away to hear.

They were picking up more and more attention, and instead of helping Neil out, more villagers began to try to coax him to go up.

"If I don't recall, you were always quite fond of music." Dunhill noted.

"Oh Neil." Hana clapped her hands together, "Won't you play this old woman a song? Its been so long since I heard you."

"N-" He started to protest and paused, "Wait '_play'?" _He inquired.

The older villagers shared conspiratorial smiles before Dunhill reached down under the table cloth and pulled out and acoustic guitar.

"Neil can play the guitar?" Rio whispered to Allen.

He shrugged, "I saw an electric one in his house, how well is a different story. Who knows?"

Neil looked mortified as he was hustled up, sat down and given the guitar by Clement and Felicity.

"Play sumfin'!" Kosaburo called.

Tina grinned and joined in. "Yeah Neil!" She clapped. His eyes snapped over to their table at the call, momentarily glaring at Tina before looking at Rio. This time they held each other's stare. A second passed and her heart rate began to pick up. What was this? What was he looking at her for? She couldn't look away. Although he looked a little like a startled cat, he shone in the harsh light cast over the stage. She could really pick up the brilliant red in his eyes, they seemed to glint at her like polished rubies.

He finally broke eye contact to look away from her and she slumped in relief, still hearing her heart beating in her head from her chest.

He pulled the mic closer, readjusting it to angle to the instrument, the restaurant cheered.

Experimentally he plucked a few strings, and a beautiful but simple melody rang clear through the room.

"That sounds familiar." Tian commented. She closed her eyes, seemingly trying to replay it in her head and place the melody.

It was now completely silent, He went again, this time it was a little more complicated with some strums. The tune was soft and calm, the room stayed quiet, completely entranced.

In his first line, it became clear it was a love song. His voice was somehow both soft and strong at the same time, fitting the relaxed tune perfectly. It wasn't at all what she expected to hear based of the music she usually heard screeching through his headphones.

"I know this song!" Tina said excitedly as he continued. "It's by Landon Pigg, It's an old one." She paused to wrack her brain, "Uh. _Falling in love at a Coffee Shop_." She said, "I think that's what it was called."

Rio froze, tearing her eyes back to Neil who was too concentrated on the tune to look at her. _A Coffee Shop_? She could be wrong but… that would be an odd coincidence all thing considered. Was this his answer to her? Could she hope?

The song was simple but romantic, about the singer who was coming to fall for another person who often frequented their favorite coffee shop. At the choruses his voice softened and he hit the heart shatteringly high notes with conviction. The song ended on such a note and it rung through the silent room, the audience still left in awe.

Then there was deafening applause. Rio didn't clap, she stood slowly, on autopilot to go speak to him but she was only out of her chair when other villagers crowded him, Dunhill put an arm around him and dragged him off to his table, Hana continued to clap even when he was seated and the blond scratched his nose in complete embarrassment.

Rio sat back down. She couldn't get to him.

Iroha looked conflicted and Allen was grinning for possibly the first time ever.

"Rio." The blacksmith said with an eye still trained on the animal dealer. "That song… Sounded a lot like that situation you-" There was a thump and Iroha winced. It was pretty clear by the look she then shot to Allen that he kicked her from under the table.

He tilted his head towards the reporter who luckily wasn't looking, instead focused on the stage were the Inn keeper was now being cheered on. Tina was the closest thing to a town gossip, and given her mail route could spread things through the village faster than one would think possible.

Though Tina of course, didn't stay with them the whole night. Eventually she got that itch she always seemed to get when she stayed still too long. She smiled at the three, "I'm just going to go catch up with Felicity. Rio, thank your friend Chelsea for this awesome idea."

"What do you mean?" Asked Rio.

"Well, she's the one who said the town should host an open mic night. She was really into the idea, she even proposed the date." She frowned, "Its too bad she couldn't come." With that she wandered off to talk to the waitress and the three immediately grouped up, three heads tilted into the table like football players before a match.

"So what did you guys think of that?" Asked Iroha.

"That was clearly a confession." Allen said, "They even did that that whole weird, 'staring into each other thing right before."

Rio flushed, but couldn't deny it. "Should I confront him?" She asked.

"_Yes_!" Allen urged.

Rio turned to Iroha who was biting her lip. Iroha had never approved of Neil. "So?" Asked Rio quietly.

Iroha was silent another couple seconds before finally giving in and shaking her head, "That _was_ a very moving song." Rio beamed and Iroha couldn't help but smile weakly back.

Then, Allen nudged the farmer. "What?" She asked.

"Looks like your Romeo is leaving." He smirked.

She wheeled around to see the door where Neil was indeed heading out.

"Go." Allen said.

Iroha nodded slightly, "Yes okay, go."

She couldn't really hug them since they were sitting both she squeezed both their shoulders as she stood giddily and tore off.

The air outside the restaurant had cooled since the sun went down. She shivered.

The outdoor lights she installed illuminated the streets and she easy spotted Neil, already a fair distance away. Without a second thought, she ran. When she got within ear shot she called out, "Wait! Neil! Wait I said!"

He paused and turned in surprise as she caught up. She stopped in front of him to catch her breath, though her heart beat was much too high to have just been caused by that sprint alone.

"You sang very, very nicely." She said, "The song was beautiful."

"Yeah thanks." He said rather aloof, he shuffled his weight for a moment but then turned to leave and she tried to think of what to say.

"But what did it mean?" She called out.

He paused. "I don't know. Lyrics were pretty straight forward."

She watched in mortification as he continued to leave. She rest her hand on the general store's fence, almost ready too give up when she felt something under hand wasn't wood.

Curiously she removed a little pale sticky note.

'_So close! Almost there! Wring that confession out of him! ;)' _It said.

She couldn't believe it. There was a little poorly drawn girl sketched underneath the text with brown hair and a red bandanna giving her the thumbs up. _How on Earth?_

She didn't have time to think that one over, she stuffed it in her pocket and chased back after him, he was just outside his house now. The battle could have been almost over, if she said the wrong thing he could flee inside.

"Neil!" She said.

He looked at her.

But what to say?

"The things that café owner said that one day… weren't completely false." She admitted shamefully. "I know it made you mad, but I definitely wasn't stalking you! I went to that café since it was a quiet place to study but I can't say I didn't have _some_ interest in you after time." She cringed before finally looking back at him to gauge his reaction.

He didn't seem mad, he just sort of looked at her. "Of course then I met you that day and though you were honestly the worst." She said, backing out of her confession for a moment.

It might have been her imagination but he almost looked hurt.

"Of course I don't think that anymore!" She quickly saved. "I really, really have come to like the you that is my animal dealer!"

"Rio-" He said.

"Really!" She urged, taking a step forward.

He slowly departed from his front steps, returning to meet her at his gate. He bit his lip and looked away though just as he seemed like he was about to say something. She somehow found the action wholly adorable.

"Let's walk." He finally said and she silently agreed. She'd give him all the time he needed.

* * *

**Alright. Imma stop this chapter here. It was supposed to go a little further but it's gone on pretty long and I need to break it up. If you never heard the song "Falling in Love at a Coffee shop I definitely recommend listening. Its so pretty (and pretty much inspired this entire fic- I had listened to Daniela Andrade's cover when I thought 'yeah I could see my OTP doing this') I'd have put lines in but... copyrights.**

**Alright... Reader responses. This will be... Long.**

**Savitron5- Well, while last chapter was short this one was about double any other I've written so there is that ;)**

**TisLadyChaos- Neigh! (That was a lame and rather convoluted joke I admit)**

**Mythicallover906- Aww, thank you so much. Its kinda cool to know people do that for my stories. I have a couple fics I'm following that it doesn't matter if its months later I'll still immediately jolt up when I see its updated and immediately find a quite place and read, grinning the whole time :) I aspire to someday write a fic of their caliber. I have a couple plots almost completely done out in my head that I'm waiting until my writing skills improve before I write. **

**Cyanote- Tina yes, and a certain terrifying farmer behind the scenes pulling the strings. Uh. No bears though. As I had told you, I was just making fun of myself and the plot of my last story :P Looking back I was rather confusing.**

**Random Reader- Thank you so much for reading, sorry for my extreme procrastination.**

**Psycho Kay- Truuue, I wasn't into him at all in Mineral Town. Partly the headgear, partly the obsession with health. Like, I get it, he's a doctor. They were just playing the stereotypes a little too much. 'Course I was pretty young too. I went for Grey for the sole reason that he liked it when I gave him junk like sticks. I was like, "aw sweet, I can give him my junk and not lose any profit woo'ing him!" That was seriously the only reason at the time. I thus I started down the slippery slope of tsundere males and well, here we are. Maybe that's how Rio got her preference too! XD**

**CheetosPotato- Hehe It wont be. Don't worry I promise. Thanks so much! I was going to put the whole 'reaction' inn this chapter but it was just getting too long.**

**Maplefrost-232- Thanks! X3 Yeah, she's not the manipulative type, she's had her moments, like the couple times in moments of confidence where she's flirted with Neil but she could never go through with something to that scale and for that duration- though maybe Chelsea knew that. She's definitely a lot more real than my other characters where I've always exaggerated a trait for some sort of comedic enhancement to the story, though this fic was supposed to feel a little more real.**

**TheFault-inOurMinds- haha, no problem :) Glad to know you are enjoying, hopefully I'll squeeze in two more chapters before the 4th- I just need to hit that magical moment of inspiration.**

**CrimsonCrush- Well we got though! (That term) I don't know when you start again but carry on trooper! :) I'm lucky, I'm not going back to school 'till summer term, This winter they're sending me off to work as part of coop so we'll see how that goes. Though I had the 'brilliant' idea to take calculus 2 as an online course for the evenings. I don't know. Must hate myself or something. **

**luckydog10heart- Wow, thank you so much! Definitely in past fics I never really focused too hard on close friendships but flt it was something really important I was missing. I'm glad I'm getting it right, I still can't write them as natural as some other's but I hope to get the hang of it. It definitly doesn't help that Iroha and Allen have such unique and very different characters. As for IrohaxRod... We'll just have to see. I really do feel tempted to write a spin off for Chelsea some day, 'cause I just can't help but think about all the ways she'll toy with poor Vaughn.**

**The-Right-Girl- I getchu! I get like that too! Like, 'how dare this manga only have one chapter out! Why can't there be 100?' and those fanfics I've been waiting on for years T_T Will they ever finish? Why must I anguish?**


	19. Chapter 19

**So this is a really short chapter, it was originally supposed to be even shorter and tacked on to the end of last chapter though so... eh. The climax was kind of the song last chapter so this will be a kinda down break.**

There was something so… still about that night. Rio walked slowly, Neil keeping pace on her right. The entire town must have still been in the restaurant, and they were far enough now that all the noise was drowned out by the overwhelming quiet. There were no bugs chirping in the distance, no lights on in the houses, beyond the path they took illuminated by streetlights, there was only dark on either side.

It was like a different world they wandered through, one where there was just him and her. She had never thought just walking side and side with someone could feel so intimate, but how could it not be? Even the air was stagnant. Paused in anticipation. The only sounds were their footprints and the distinctive noises of various materials from their clothes swishing as they walked. It was nice.

So caught up in the moment was she, she forgot about the purpose to the walk until his voice cut through the silence. "What was it about me that made you notice me anyway?"

Rio's heart beat accelerated in what could only be fear. There was no way to answer him without sounding stalkerish. "What?" She asked, not so much for him to repeat but as a stall as she thought. When the words just didn't come to her she became flustered and wrung at her scarf. "Oh, I don't know. This whole thing is just so embarrassing to talk about. I'm sure you can sympathize."

He, to her relief, nodded.

She still felt a little fidgety, tucking her arms into herself.

"Cold?" He asked, observing her action.

"Ah- no, well a little but not really. I just feel a little anxious now to be honest." She admitted. She stopped abruptly, watching him stop as well half a beat later. The look in his eye was obviously questioning. Doing her all to retain eye contact, she finally broke. "Please. Put me out of my misery, just say what you want to say." She pleaded. Well, so much for giving him all the time he needed.

"I lied." He said.

"What?"

"When I was all outraged from that story the coffee shop owner said at the crop festival and said those things thing to you. I was scared- uh scared a strong word." He stopped his train off thought, wracking his brain for a synonym he found less embarrassing or emasculating or to remedy whatever feeling was plaguing him behind his expressionless exterior. She was starting to fear this was all a bust and she might never know. It would be just like him to run off now.

But he didn't.

"Nervous?" He finally tested out, but it also didn't seem to sit right. "Uneasy." He said definitively.

"So what made you scared?" Rio asked.

"Uneasy." He corrected.

"Fine. Why did you feel uneasy?" She asked, repeating the same question. To be honest, despite the circumstances she did that on purpose. Mischief made her feel less nervous. She wondered if that was why Chelsea was always so confident.

"It wasn't entirely untrue. This is going to sound really weird, but you've already said as much too- There's always been something about you Rio. Even before I met you… I noticed you too." He admitted.

Rio overwhelmed with emotions could only laugh. "What were the odds? Two strangers in a café?"

"It's a thing." He said solemnly. "There's a song about it."

It took her a second to register that he- Neil the animal dealer- just made a joke. She grinned.

He sighed, "Of course then we met and every conversation with you was infuriating. You made me want to wrangle something."

She felt a little pang in her chest but chid herself because she had known that much. Anyone could have seen they despised each other at the beginning of the year. So she laughed instead, trying to keep the atmosphere light, even if it actually felt like it was suddenly twice the gravitational constant. "But it was always your fault!" She said, playfully pushing him aside, "Plus, wasn't it mostly me getting mad and you just sort of… deadpan?"

"It all got to me too. I'm just not so good at showing stuff!" He said defensively.

"Stuff?" She asked in fake question and he rolled his eyes, she wasn't letting him get away with anything it seemed.

"Feelings." He conceded.

"I never would have guessed." She said in fake shock. She immediately regretted the sarcasm route a second later when the conversation seemed to have been cut. She hadn't given him anything to respond to. She could fix that.

"So what do you think of me now?" She asked.

"I like you." He said, surprising her with the sudden directness.

"Hm, what kind of like?"

"I _like _you Rio." He said. She never really knew how confessions happened in real life. It wasn't screaming tear felt words of love in the pouring rain, His statement did not lead to a passionate kissing session but a warmth filled her. It was if up to that moment she had been empty and never even knew it.

A deep blush crossed her face, and as they were standing directly under the street light, she couldn't hide it in the dark. "M-me too." She said quietly. She moved over to sit at the bench she had just installed the other day and looked up at him with a gentle smile, "I really really like you Neil, and have for some time now."

He moved in front of her, still standing. So close, the tips of their boots almost touched.

"You're not going to sit-?"

"So what do you thi-"

they spoke at the same time, cutting each other off.

"Sorry." He said.

"No I'm sorry." She scratched her nose before patting the area of the bench next to her.

He sat, looking out at the scenery. Which of course was non-existent. It was pitch black outside their little spot light. "So uh... How do you feel about dating?... As in with me?" It took him a second to then turn himself to face her. One knee now propped up on the bench.

She beamed and that was all the indication he needed to go routeing through his pocket, procuring a delicate silver ring. If possible her smile grew. "I would really like that." She said, taking the ring from him too slide on her finger. She admired it for a moment in the light before looking back to him. Neil was smiling- something she didn't even know he could do. It was as pretty as she had always imagined.

They angled back again to facing out to the dark.

The atmosphere was still a little tense, a little nervous. Though she longed suddenly for some sort of contact. Even if it was just holding his hand like they had done in the woods what felt like ages ago. She still didn't like him much at the time and hadn't thought any of it too special, but now she could vividly recall with a certain fondness the way his hand had felt around her's. Her fingers moved unconsciously in response. Would he object now? He shouldn't. She took a chance, blindly reaching out and finding him when her fingers grazed the back of his wrist, she readjusted to holding his hand.

His cold hands warmed as they had every time she had flustered him. If he wasn't _conveniently_ looking away she was sure she'd have seen a familiar blush crossing his cheeks.

They soon got back up and started out again.

Neither seemed too rushed to delve further. They just walked on. Enjoying this new feeling of being whole- of being wanted.

It was a little later, when the hand holding no longer felt so foreign that she was finally able to drift off into thought. It was when they crunched on overlying leaf litter that Rio was brought back from the peace, her steps slowed for a moment long enough to break their pace. "Something wrong?" He asked.

"No nothing at all." She said. "I just have been so stressed this year, with the farm, with building the town, with a moody animal dealer- I just realized now some things I've lost sight of. Every autumn I used to take the time to enjoy the colours. I'd sit outside with a hot chocolate- it was tradition. It's not that it was anything important- I just, didn't even look this year. I feel like I've lost something important."

"It's still fall." He noted.

"Yeah, but it's just the concept that I didn't even think about it until now." She explained. All season, she didn't once stop to admire the trees, right from the beginning she had never eagerly scoped out the first autumn leaf.

"Yeah… I guess I get that." He nodded. "Sorry."

"For what?" She asked in confusion. He regrettably withdrew, removing his hand from hers to stuff in his pocket.

"The stress." He said.

"Well then I'm sorry too." She told him.

"What for?" He asked

"The stress." She answered.

"We've been through a lot haven't we?" He said.

"You sound like an old man." She joked.

He looked at her in indignation and opened his mouth to protest, but coming up blank for retorts he simply shrugged. This time he stopped and she did as well to face him, wondering what it was this time.

"Well." He said, "it's late."

"Is it?" She asked, feeling a slight bit a disappointment.

He checked his watch. "Past midnight."

"Oh shoot!" She said, "I have to get up in six hours."

"Then you should probably get some sleep." He told her. "I'll… see you tomorrow okay?"

"Yeah." She nodded.

He didn't move though. "Uh, you know, Rio..."

"What?" She asked.

"I really am sorry for the things I've said- and the things I'm sure I _will_ say." He said looking somewhat ashamed. "I don't know why I ever say them in the first place. I can't believe you'd even want to date me but... since you are, I'll do everything I can to be better okay?... Though that might take time so..."

Rio gave him a soft smile. "Don't worry, I already know by now what you usually mean- and thanks. Don't feel you need to rush, and definitely don't think I'd ever want you to change who you are. I like you flaws and all."

He gave a part-smile at that. Breaking his personal motto on initiating person-person contact he reached out tentatively and squeezed her shoulder before leaving in one of the most awkward yet oddly charming farewells she had ever received.

For a moment though she was a little put off. Past midnight and he didn't walk her home. Then she realized with a start that she was already standing outside her front door. She had been so absorbed in his presence she hadn't even registered them leaving town and entering the farm. She laughed to herself, feeling the giddiness of a high schooler all over again.

* * *

**I feel like I just poured an entire bag of sugar into this chapter to make it longer- oh well I'll just post this now before I change my mind. By the way, there's still a fair amount of chapters to go. Just a heads up since I know my usual trend is to only write at most three chapters to kinds of sum everything up. This was originally supposed to be a story that focused on their "after-confession" but I... I got a little carried away in the before.**

**Cyanote- Aw nah, not at all. I was just being misleading. :) Glad you liked it, its so weird that you never see him with it in the game when he talks about it so much.**

**CrimsonCrush- Calculus interesting? Well okay. I'll take your word for it. First week and their already tossing imaginary numbers and non-x-axis-crossing parabolas (and thus more imaginary numbers) at me. I've never felt so dumb in my life. ANYWAY. There we go! Neil confessed. A little anti-climatic though, I kinda wished I just tacked this onto the last chapter.**

**Savitron5- Oh I know! I hate waiting for fanfiction to update. Nothing I'm following has updated in FOREVER. As always, thanks for reading and reviewing! :)**

**Psycho Kay- Haha I never gave fodder to Neil. It just felt weird. I mean, I know he likes it but... why? He has so much, a lot of which he sells to me. Milk then Yak milk was my typical gift. I kinda tried to incorporate that into the story in a less awkward way. So whenever he delivers fodder and visits her she gives him milk. You know... I came to a realization recently. I don't think I specifically go for the tsunderes, its often just whoever shows up first. Neil was the first guy. I think for me Grey was the first guy. Ash was the first guy, I wasn't into Elliot and Vaughn came second so I went with him. Then there was Magical Melody and I went with Ray over Kurt- because he gave me I fishing rod and I though that was nice.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Guess who's back? Back Again? Umbreonix's back tell a friend... I don't listen to Eminem so I feel like a total lie indirectly quoting him. Anyway, I'm trying to get back into the throws of writing, but I guess I say that every time now don't I? I have no excuse either, I'm on my work term at school so my evenings are super free. Let's just say... I used this time efficiently... To watch every episode of hitman reborn... **

**I finished the last episode and thought, "What do I do with my life now?" Then I remembered I have stories I'm supposed to be writing :P**

* * *

"And finally, here the garden is primarily dominated by red magic flowers. Don't they look so pretty peeking up from the fall leaves? They really do look magic!" Hina giggled to the tour. An assembly of kindergarden students with varying degrees of interest listened to her in silence. "Magic flowers can grow to be blue or red. Red magic flowers are very rare you know. Rio had to grow lottsa' blue ones first before she got any red ones. You'll probably never see this many together again."

Rio's tours had been taking off, today was a visit from Forget-Me-Not Primary and the day before, a high school' biology class from a couple towns over. The tours required varying amounts of sophistication. For the lower grades, she had enlisted the village kids to make the visits more interesting. After all, who knew better what young children would like than young children?

Rio had taken command yesterday, delighted to talk biology after such a long time. The student were given leaf keys and set out on a hunt to identify and take pictures of certain plants. She went to lengths speaking of the genetic phenomena that produced red and blue "magic" flowers.

She was less talented with younger groups. Yet Hina, Nico and Tony managed to make a fun day out of their farm visit. Tony helped her show off the animals and Hina lead the garden tour, the three all joined the class in apple picking over at the orchard and Nico showed the class how to make tasty apple sauce. The teacher was blown away, promising to bring back her future classes and to recommend the farm to the other grades.

The sun was beginning to set when the yellow school bus finally returned to pick the class back up. The teacher called her students over and helped them pack their apple sauce jars into their knapsacks, grateful when Hina and Nico joined to help out. The day had taken a lot of energy out of the students and they moved around with bleary eyes, practically asleep on their feet. They were herded like sheep onto the bus, all waving sloppy goodbyes to the pretty blonde farmer and their new friends.

The four waved back and it wasn't until the bus was well out of sight that Rio sighed in tired relief and took off her hat to rustle through her hair. She needed a shower, but it could wait.

"Good work team. That was one crazy day. Thirty Kindergardeners and one teacher, total insanity." She said.

Hina giggled. "I caught one boy trying to pee in the rice patty."

"What!?" Gasped Rio.

"Don't worry I stopped him before his pants were even fully unzipped, that's when the teacher asked you if he could use the house's washroom." Hina laughed.

Rio shook her head in exasperation, "That was five minutes after we got back from lunch at Clement's, they were all supposed to go then."

"He kept saying he didn't have to go then." Nico frowned.

"That's nothing." Toni said, "I had to keep stopping one of them from trying to play with Lait's poop in the barn."

Hina and Nico's faces scrunched in horror.

Not to be beat though, Nico spoke up, "I had five nearly skinning each other with apple peelers. I took them off that duty and put them on mashing. They liked that."

Rio just shook her head in disbelief, "I don't know what I'd do without you guys, and I definitely couldn't imagine keeping up with that type of energy all the time, could you imagine being their parents? I really would never have the time or energy for that."

"I hear it's different when it's your own." Hina said.

"How?" Rio asked skeptically.

"'Cause you love them!" She smiled angelically.

Rio smiled, she really hadn't ever put any thought into children, but now that she was fully graduated from school, the 'rest of her life' seemed a lot more imminent. Maybe a daughter like Hina wouldn't be too bad. Or a little sweetheart like Nico. She liked Toni but was certain he had to have been a little devil for Rebecca when he was younger, and she wasn't stern like his mother to keep a kid like him in check while running a business.

"But aren't you and Neil gonna have a baby?" Nico asked. Rio froze.

Her face reddened and she fought desperately to keep the heat down. "Wha-? No! I don't, we just, we just started dating and all so… no, or I don't know."

Hina giggled into the sleeve of her aviation jacket. "You're as red as the magic flowers!"

Nico frowned, "But they can't have a baby! They're not married! Dad says a baby comes when a husband and wife love each other very much and make a special prayer."

"He lied." Said Toni flatly.

"Wha?" Asked Nico in shock.

"My mom wasn't married when she had me." Toni said then he grinned, "Babies come from-"

He was cut off by Rio diving to cover his mouth from behind, his words were muffled. In annoyance he licked her hand and she grimaced. Yes, children were definitely impossible for her. "Ek!" She shrieked and fell back on her rear, wincing painfully. "That's gross." She said wiping her hand on the grass.

Toni just grinned evilly.

"What are you doing?" Asked a new voice. One that Rio recognized instantly. Craning her neck she looked all the way up until she met the eyes of the man behind her. "Neil!" She said happily. "Our tour just headed back home, these three helped me out for the day."

"Really?" He asked with a rather incredulous expression, "Looked more like they were terrorizing you. Why is your face so red anyway?"

Rio laughed nervously, temporarily breaking eye contact as she moved to get back up. "It's not like that at all." She half-lied as she brushed the dirt of her backside, "Honesty today wouldn't have worked at all without them." She sighed, "I need to start paying you guys."

"Agreed!" Toni grinned.

"No Toni!" Hina said in surprise, "we couldn't possibly!"

Neil bent down next to her with a solemn expression. "Don't be like that Hina, life's tough and you gotta be tougher. Life will walk all over you if you let people push you around now! Don't let that slave driver Rio work you like a mule for free. Take what you deserve."

Rio stared at him in shock. After all, she knew it was a joke but, _Neil doesn't joke_.

Hina looked like she was considering his words. "Be assertive, say what you want." He said.

"T-then." Hina said in the most assertive voice she could muster. "We want 310 gold per tour!"

"310?" Asked Rio.

Hina shrunk, "Uh yeah.. well maybe it's too much … I just.."

Rio laughed, "That seems like more than a reasonable enough price I was just wondering why so specific?"

"It's enough for each of us to be able to by a slice of cake at Clement's after! Or we could put it together and get large pizza to share." She said in delight.

The boys seemed satisfied with this idea and Rio quickly agreed, forking up 930g for the three to split. They thanked her in delight and ran off.

"You're so sweet with Hina." She noted to Neil.

"She's not bad, high on my list of the top five villagers I tolerate." He said.

"An ordered list of villagers you tolerate." Rio marveled playfully, "I take it I'm high up too?" She asked, not so subtly twisting the commitment ring on her finger as if to say, _after all you wanted to date me_.

The action was not gone unnoticed. "Fair point." He agreed. "I guess now that we're together I'll consider putting you onto the list."

She laughed.

Without either of them really intending to, they had already began a stroll through her garden. They walked slowly, standing about two feet apart. "Still." She sighed. "I know I already paid them and all, but _can _I do that?"

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Well like, does that suddenly make it child labour or something? Is that even legal?" She asked.

The corner of his mouth turned up. "Taking like a true city girl."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked.

"Kid's are made of tougher stuff in the country. I started wrangling goats when I was their age." He said.

"Goats?" She asked.

"Yeah, they were good to start with. It took forever to convince my parents but I finally got a breeding pair and started my own little herd. I started getting affiliated with animal dealers and handling the heavier animals when I was thirteen. Good pay too." He said.

She listened to him in awe, Neil didn't usually talk much about himself. Deciding that he must be in a good mood today she tried to delve further. "So your parents?" She prompted.

She didn't expect the response she got next.

"Never mind them." He snapped in irritation.

Suddenly the good mood was gone and they walked the rest of the length of the garden and back in silence. Rio biting her lip in regret.

It had been a week since they started dating and the gossip around town was only starting to go down. She remembered how nervous she had been on the first day after the open mic night where he confessed.

The village had been oddly abuzz with excitement. Word traveled fast, almost impossibly so and by the time she was finished her chores on the farm, everyone had already heard the news of the new couple. Passing through town, she couldn't go five meters without being stopped and congratulated. Allen and Iroha had been particularly peeved that they had heard from word of mouth and not her directly but she could only shrug helplessly.

She knew if it was tough on her though, Neil must have been suffering. She saw him as she passed the town square on her way to the forest. Rod was chattering on excitedly and slapping his back with a grin, Dunhill and Hana were there too, positively beaming with pride.

The look on his face was indescribable, somewhere between tired, neutral, annoyed and embarrassed. It was to be expected, but she still felt a little pang in her chest- he could look a little happier. Was he unhappy? Did he regret asking her out? Her fears dissipated though when he eventually decided to tune out the three and rest his head on his counter top over his arms. His head had turned sideways away from the three causing him to notice her standing a ways away. Her heart stopped for a moment as she awaited his reaction. His face melted into a weary smile that only she could see. She smiled back.

Out of respect for him and to not give Hana, Dunhill and Rod more fuel she moved along without stopping by. Something she was sure he was grateful for.

As for the actual dating thing. She didn't know what she was expecting and was ultimately surprised to find not much had changed. Before, most of their interactions outside of work occurred after he delivered animal care materials, he would come to her farm house, she'd give him some milk and they'd go about their own things, he'd often bring paper work or animal care books to read on her couch and she'd flip through her monthly edition of _Nature _on her bed or continue doing chores like washing her dishes.

She knew Neil was a little awkward and took these visits as compliments to her, that he enjoyed her presence even if he didn't have much to say.

The only difference now that they were dating, was that his visits weren't always restricted to when he was already on the farm anyway. They quickly fell into this routine and for the time being, she was satisfied with this level of interaction.

Yet today when he came by, she was already out in the gardens with the kids. So they walked around instead. This was the first time they really did much talking and she blew it by bringing up his parents. They had only been together a week after all, she should have known it was too soon. She knew there was some kind of strain in his relationship with his mother and father, but he never went into any of the details other than to simply say Dunhill, Hana and Kosaburo where the only family he needed.

She was relieved when they reached back to the farmhouse and he entered in, showing he'd already forgiven her for prying. She almost skipped in to pour him a glass of milk, vowing someday she'd make him comfortable enough to tell her about himself.

* * *

**CrimsonCrush- Aww, I glad you can relate, I'm definitely trying to make this story... realistically awkward. 'Cause there's no denying Neil is an awkward guy, and Rio sort of adopts the air of the person she's with. Like, Trent's outgoing and so she's outgoing with him, Neil's a little awkward so she's a little awkward around him. Obviously it'll take them a lot of time to warm up, there's still several chapters to go before the reach something close to a "conventional couple" Hope everything is still going well with the magazine :)**

**Cyanote- Hehe, who doesn't love adorable dorks? My favorite kinda ship! Glad my updates can brighten your day, and thanks for always reading despite my ongoing laziness with updates.**

**Singer of Water- Thank you so much :) I hope to still get a little better and storytelling but I'm glad you're enjoying the story. As for what I have In store... A fair amount surprisingly. This is my first time going in depth to the "after-confession" part of the relationship.**

**Savitron5- Sorry for making you wait anyway XD LOL, thanks for always reading.**

**CheetosPotato- Good. 'Cause there's going to be a lot more. I'm sure that you can tell from this chapter, it's going to be a long road of sappy-sweet as they expand their relationship. **

**PsychoKay- Why not just grow fodder... Well true. I actually do it this game since it's so easy, I didn't in past games though, I had no idea how easy grass was to grow, you don't even have to water it. That's true, nothing better than tough or shy characters that get flustered, makes you warm up to them in an instant. Ha, yeah, there's no way to make gifting fodder sound natural in this story. Or any story. Or ever.**

**Surnia- Thanks! I hope you enjoyed This Iridescent world too, I'll admit all my Rio/Neil fics are pretty different though. Very different Rios, slightly different Neils and pretty different story-telling styles.**

**Werehogdog- New reader! Hey! Thank you for tuning in and reviewing! Glad you're enjoying it too! Yup Allen is a character, and trust me, we will be seeing more of his antics**


	21. Chapter 21

It had rained the day before, leaving the morning sky a milky white. From the elevated view of the town square, Iroha watched the mist sweep lazily through the village, concealing it's rolling hills in a wispy veneer of fog. The only things tall enough to to peek through were the roof tops of houses.

"Such a gloomy day." A voice behind her yawned, causing her to jolt in surprise

"Allen!" She exclaimed.

He looked at her suspiciously. "That's an unexpected reaction." He said. He ran a hand through his hair, still not awake enough to muster up the enthusiasm to tease her. Everyone knew the stylist was not a morning person. "So did you hike all the way up here to admire the view or is there a reason you're standing outside my shop?" He asked.

"Ah yes." She remembered. "I believe you open now?" She asked.

He rose an interested eyebrow, "I was just opening up shop when I saw you."

She fidgeted as she always did when she was about to ask his help and the faintest hint of a smirk twisted the corner of his mouth. "Are you a customer today?"

"Ah… yes." She bowed her head slightly.

His fingers twitched, betraying his excitement. "Well it's about time! I warn you though, once you have me as a stylist you'll never be able to go back to cutting your own hair. Two in three women even fall for me."

She wasn't going to respond to that, she'd known him long enough now to know better.

"Have a look in mind?" He asked, quickly coaxing her back into the salon before she could change her mind.

"I was hoping…" She trailed off, gripping at her arms, "Um. Well…." She struggled to gather herself. "I thought maybe given those skills you always boast maybe you even could make someone like me…."

"Hun, I'm your stylist, I'm not here to judge. Just out with it!" He said.

"Could you help me be… cute?" She asked. Humiliation and shame felt like it was gnawing an empty hole in her stomach as she waited for him to respond. Any hint of a smile had left his face.

"Cute?" He asked.

She nodded slowly, feeling his gaze even when she looked away. It was probably impossible after all. The blacksmith had never once felt cute in her entire life. Even as a preschooler she had had a permanently stern and mature look on her face and couldn't pull off the colourful accessories the other girls wore. At home she had to be tough and sure, living with several older brothers meant that she had to fight for every morsel of food she could at the dinner table and never had any command of what they played or watched on the tv.

"Never mind." She muttered, "I apologize for asking something so ridiculous of you. Thank you for not laughing, and please don't tell anyone about any of this." She sighed before preparing to head back home.

"Iroha." He said. "Why are you asking this? Is it because of Rod?"

She absentmindedly ran a hand through her hair. "So what if it is? As I am now, I don't suit him at all, it's hard to get myself to approach him. Girls like Tina and Michelle though…"

Allen crossed him arms and leaned against his desk.

She gave him a half smile. "They just seem so spirited and carefree. Of course, I know it's more than a simple make over to be them like them, not that I plan to be, and I don't want to make such drastic changes to my personality… I just wanted to see if I _could_ be cute? I suppose?" At this point she wasn't really sure what she was saying either.

"Fine." Allen said, removing his glasses to clean them as he often did when he wasn't entirely satisfied. "Just so you know, I'm in my line of work to make women shine. Not to mold them to one man's taste." He said. "Though I can see this is more than just for Rod so I'll make an exception."

"Thank you." She nodded.

He led her over to the closest chair, angling it towards her to invite her to sit. "Let's begin then." He said without his usual vigor.

* * *

After some time of prodding and tweaking, Allen had called Yuri over who, although usually seemed rather lethargic, practically sprinted over after hearing the two key words "make over." Her eyes glistened with excitement, as she herded the blacksmith back to the tailors. She had not even seen her reflection since Allen had covered the mirror insisting that only seeing herself at the very end is what makes make up transformations so fun. She had some idea of what he'd done of course, he'd put all sorts of products in her hair, though she hadn't the faintest idea of what any of them were. She hadn't even ever known that there were hair products other than shampoo and conditioner. He had used multiple palettes of beige… stuff, some concealers, some foundations probably – then came all of the eye stuff.

Yuri talked excitedly to Allen as she threw out all sorts of words and terms the blacksmith had never heard of. Types of looks, types of necklines and shirt fits and the like. However, like Allen, the glint in Yuri's eyes faded a bit when she heard the look that they were aiming for was 'cute'.

Iroha sat as the two routed through the racks of clothes. First Allen and now Yuri. If neither of them thought she could be cute then surely it was impossible anyway. Even though Allen said there was no reason a girl should feel embarrassed talking to her stylist, she still did. Incredibly so.

They tossed some clothes at her, finally agreeing on an outfit and she was herded into the change room. She emerged a little later and despite their earlier reservations they both exchanged a triumphant look.

"….It looks good." Yuri smiled.

"Whoever would have guessed one of my two favourite barbarian ladies could ever look so girlish." Allen said walking behind her and placing a hand on either of her shoulders. "Might I say you look sweet enough to eat, love." He said lifting one of the two twin tails he had put her long hair in. She shook him off but he simply let his hand drift down to take hers in a gentlemanly hold and lead her to the full length mirror.

Iroha gasped. Somehow, through some magic, the stylist and tailor had performed the impossible. The girl before her had wide eyes with long eyelashes that bat innocently every time she blinked. She had been sure that the two ponytails would look ridiculous on a grown woman but they worked, brilliantly. The bright blue in her button up sweater made her look much younger and looked nice over the thin collared shirt she wore underneath. The fitted black pants slimmed her legs as well.

"Amazing. Allen… I never would have guessed you were so talented." She said.

"What do you mean?" He said in surprise, "Don't I tell you every day how amazing and brilliant the great me is?"

Rather than rolling her eyes she just smiled back at his joke, and his face softened into that incredibly rare expression that hinted he might actually care one way or another about his friends.

As if with perfect timing, the door burst open.

"Is Allen _here_?" Rod asked excitedly and somewhat exasperated. His eyes zoned in on the stylist. "There you are! I'd been looking EVERYWHERE for you! You won't believe-"

Allen put a finger to his mouth, "Tell me after, or never… if it's anything like your last big announcement I probably don't care. More importantly, check out my latest project." He spun Rod around to face Iroha.

"Iroha." Rod said in surprise.

She blushed, even the sound of her name from his lip always made her heart beat.

"You look different, I hardly even recognized you." He said.

"So what do you think?" Asked Allen.

"You look really cute!" Rod grinned politely.

"Th-thank you!" Iroha said excitedly but then Rod turn back to Allen.

"But you really have to listen, this is life changing news!" He protested.

He didn't even have to say the next words, somehow the room all noticed it at the same time.

"… On your finger." Allen said in disbelief.

Rod grinned widely. And held up his left hand to better display the metal band.

It was like getting struck by lightning while falling into a freezing ocean for Iroha as the implications of that small piece of metal hit her.

"Tina." She said.

Rod turned to her in surprise, "Yeah, how'd you know?" He asked.

"I made that commitment ring." She said quietly.

Allen grimaced and tried to shake it off long enough to look unbothered, "Wow." He said flatly, "So the _girl_ confessed to _you_."

"Well yeah." Rod admit in embarrassment, "but I was going to ask Iroha soon myself to make some rings. I really really like her!"

Iroha was secretly glad at least that it was Tina that commissioned her. It would have torn her apart if she had known what pairing they were for while she was making them.

"Anyway! Let me tell you how it all went down!" Rod said excitedly.

Iroha felt numb.

"Rod." Allen said.

"So we were on a picnic up in the mountains and-"

"ROD." Allen repeated angrily.

"What?" The pet seller asked in confusion.

"Not now." Allen practically growled.

"What do you mean?" Rod asked, a little hurt. "You're my best friend, so I came to you right away. I want to tell you everything."

"Just get out." Allen said. He Removed his glasses and rather than clean them and put them back on as he usually did, he nearly slammed them onto the table, with just enough restraint as to not damage them "Now is NOT THE TIME."

Now Rod looked mad, "Geez, some friend you are. You know _Neil _always listens to everything I have to say. Why can't you just once think about someone other than yourself! You were so proud of yourself a moment ago when we were talking about your work." He said gesturing to Iroha, "but now that we're talking about me you don't care! And this is super important to me!"

"Rod…" Allen sighed, "We can talk about this later but not now, not here."

"Just forget about it." Rod muttered and stalked out.

A silence had engulfed the room.

It was surprisingly Iroha who broke the spoke up first. "Well then… thank you two for everything. I'm sorry you got into a fight…"

She attempted a smile as she fished out her wallet, "Isn't it funny?" Her voice cracked. "That the money I recently came across to do this makeover was from making those rings?"

She attempted to hand it to them but when they didn't move she simply left it next to the register and exited. A moment later, Allen nearly flung himself out of the shop in such a rush he even forgot his glasses. "Wait!" He called.

He caught her by her shoulder and spun her around, looking her dead in the eye. She nearly laughed, "You look so much more boyish without your glasses." In any other circumstances he would have scowled.

She looked out to the streets, "You were right… such a gloomy day."

He pulled her into a hug, much to her surprise. "I never say this, so you know I mean it. I'm sorry."

"What do you mean?" she asked, resisting his arms as she attempted to salvage the last remains of her dignity today. At least they were completely hidden in the fog so no one else could see her in such a pathetic state, clearly looking like she was on the verge of breaking. If she submitted to his arms she knew she'd cry, and that was one thing she'd never do in front of someone, not even a friend.

"Well, Rod never keeps secrets, he's an open book, I should have known he liked Tina." He said.

"It's fine." She replied, failing to sound convincing. "Really… Plus anyway, she suits him much better."

"Come with me." He said, taking her gently by the wrist.

"Really, It was just a little crush. I'm not experienced in this stuff so it was about as deep as an elementary school love." She protested, not commenting when he bumped blindly into one of Rio's lamp posts. He sighed, "Blind as a bat. We're both showing all of our uncool sides today aren't we?"

He took her back into the salon and sat her back down, beginning to clean off her makeup, "Since I know you won't know how to do it right." He explained and squinted while he worked, as it was all a little hard to see.

"Hey Allen?" She asked a little later.

"Yes?" He responded, pausing with the eye wipes.

"Was it really that ridiculous? For me to look cute?" She asked.

"Of course." He snapped.

She shot him a hurt expression that he couldn't quite see but could guess was probably crossing her face. He walked over to the counter and fished out a spare pair of glasses and put them on before returning to look directly at her. "_Cute _is an insult to you." He said.

"Any girl could walk in here and be made cute." He explained, "You've got something not even I can replicate blacksmith."

She didn't smile, "Thank you for trying to make me feel better, but I've already told you I am alright"

He shook his head. "You should know better than anyone that I don't just throw out false compliments, and don't expect me to repeat any of this tomorrow."

She just looked at him.

He released her hair from its ponytails and it fell loose over her shoulders. "Your hair is so naturally silky, I couldn't believe it when I touched it." He said, running his fingers through it from the base of her scalp. "You hardly really needed any of the concealer or foundation either." He said. "I know some vulturous women who would kill you for your skin and complexion."

He pulled out a couple brushes and some mascara, applying a very light layer of makeup. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"This is how I would do you up." He explained before swiveling the chair to face the mirror. In the reflection she watched him sweep her hair over one shoulder. "You're beautiful." He said simply.

She wasn't feeling it today though, but seeing him try so hard she faked a smile. "Thank you Allen."

"Don't mention it." He said flatly. "Ever."

She started to leave but right before opening the door Allen seemed to remember something. "Oh, but wait."

She looked at him curiously, a hint of his cheekiness was back. "You asked me about you _looking_ cute."

"And?" She asked.

"Personality-wise it's all another story." He said, "You'll always be our stubborn, serious, cranky, naïve and _adorable _barbarian woman" His grin was his typical sultry, "The cutest cave woman I ever did meet."

She bowed her head. "Thank you for all your assistance this morning. I really must return to the forge. I'll be fine, really." She urged

With that she left.

"Liar." He said under his breath.

It would be another two days before Rio and Allen saw her again, and another three before any smoke was sighted rising from the forge's chimney.

* * *

**I somewhat feel like reader responses here would ruin the feel of the chapter, I'll combine my responses next chapter. Thank you for reading, reviewing, following, etc.**


	22. Chapter 22

Tina giggled loudly at a joke Rod told, so amused she had to put her head down on the table. "You're so funny Rod," she said genuinely, leaning back up to bat her doll-like eyelashes.

Rod looked completely stricken for a moment, _entirely in awe of her everything. _"Y-you think so?" he blushed.

Tina only laughed. "So cute too- how hasn't another girl already snatched you up?" Then, she blushed. "I just feel like the luckiest girl in the world."

Rod grinned boyishly. "Then I'm the luckiest guy in the world!"

Rio and Allen, sitting only a couple tables away stared at their food in disgust, finding their appetites oddly depleted. The waitress, having noticed, hurried over. "Something wrong with your orders guys?"

"Oh no." Rio said hurriedly. "It's great as always, Felicity!"

"But you haven't even touched it yet…" she frowned.

"It's hard to eat when you're drowning in sap." Allen said bluntly, giving the newest couple a pointed look. Which of course was not received as they were too busy _staring into each other's eyes lovingly_.

Felicity gave a pained smile in their direction before giving the stylist a good-natured squeeze to the shoulder. "Cut them some slack, you know how it is with new couples! They just can't keep their minds off each other."

She skipped off and Allen adjusted his glasses agitatedly.

Rio just frowned at that last statement in thought.

"No kidding," Allen muttered. "He won't shut up about his _cute and adorable_ girlfriend. They haunt me in my dreams you know. Last night I dreamt I was running down this long double bubble coloured corridor and they were skipping after me like Pepe le pew, arm in arm."

"Really?" Rio asked, not even really able to imagine the red head running. He seemed too composed a character to even have nightmares.

"Believe me, Rio Gold," he said grimly. "I've been to hell and back and it's not all fire and brimstone, oh no. It's a rose scented, bubbly Barbie dream afterlife."

Rio couldn't help but laugh at the thought.

Allen just grit his teeth. "Though I was woken up from that dream at six this morning, when Rod ran all the way over to tell me Tina left a heart print 'good morning Roddy-bear' letter in his mail box."

"You have it rough," Rio admitted.

"Thank the Goddess Neil and you aren't like that," Allen muttered.

At that Rio sighed and turned back to the loving couple sharing an orange sherbet. "Is that really how couples are supposed to be at first?" she asked.

"No." he said firmly. "The world would have long since fallen into dysfunction if that were the case."

Rio shook her head. "Ok. No. Not like _that_ exactly… but you know… Like that," she bit her lip. "Neil and I… Why is it we've been together so much longer but still feel so distant? We barely talk… We just sort of sit it the same room together sometimes. He still gets mad at me if I try to chat while he's working."

"Neil, is not Rod," Allen said, stating the obvious. "If you wanted a cuddle bear, you're straight out of luck."

"Well, no," Rio protested, "I just want to feel closer, you know?"

Allen shrugged. "Good luck with that hun, I always just sort of assumed he's missing that thing humans are supposed to have… a, um, 'soul' or something like that."

Rio scowled. "How dare you? Just because my boyfriend hates you, doesn't mean he doesn't have a soul! He has one.. uh, probably."

Allen snickered. "Neil would be hurt if he heard you say that."

"No! Just- I'm a Biologist you know… I don't think I've ever come across this 'soul' thing in any dissections." She said dryly.

Allen threw back his head in amusement. "Secretly a nihilist are we my dear?"

Playing into his taunt she leaned forward with a very 'Allen' expression, "Oh you have no idea how this cold calculating mind sees the world," she said.

"Ah. Speak science to me." Allen said in a seductive tone

"The only true 'purpose of life' is derived from the evolutionary need to pass on genes. In that way, rabbits live more 'successful' lives than us. It is human ego to think that our sentience makes us a biologically superior race," she purred.

"Darker," he grinned, moaning in fake pleasure.

She leaned in to whisper. "Free will may just all be an illusion."

He clutched at his heart before two menus came down on both their heads.

"That's enough you two," Felicity scolded. "We already have one pair in this restaurant freaking our customers out, we don't need another. Just eat your food and _try _to be normal!"

Rio pouted, Allen just smirked.

"So, what of this whole love thing?" he asked, completely ignoring the waitress' order.

"Brain chemicals to trick you into continuing the blood line. I believe it was Schopenhaeur that said that falling in love is a 'blind biological urge'" She smiled darkly. "In reality, almost anyone could fall in love under the right circumstances. It's why tv characters in friend groups, or the only two young people stranded on a deserted island always end up pairing up. It not just a coincidence that the other person always just happens to be their 'soul mate' now is it?"

He looked at her in fake astonishment. "But Miss Scientist! You're in a committed relationship! Surely that's not all just a ploy to satisfy your-"

"Reproductive agenda?" she asked, crossing one leg and twirling her hair coyly. Then she froze as Allen knew she would if he pushed her too far and her face erupted in red. "Oh my Goddess." She said. "I got carried away, I can't believe I just-"

Allen just smirked.

To make matters worse, a moment later she became aware of a third presence that only Allen could have seen. "I hate to quote Scooby Doo but… he's right behind me isn't he?" she asked.

"Ohhhh yes," Allen agreed.

Her head turned slowly to a very creeped out boyfriend. "Neil," she squeaked.

She turned back to Allen. "I trusted you," she said.

"What is trust really to an existentialist?" he shrugged.

Neil grimaced, radiating annoyance. "I need to get back to the stall. I'm just going to order to go…" he said, almost angrily.

He headed over to Felicity and Rio slumped. "Dear Harvest King, who have I wronged?" she asked.

Allen snickered and she glowered before glancing over to Neil, then her food, then to Neil… then to her food. "The second I finish this plate, I'm going to explain it was a joke," she said.

"But then I'll be all alone," he said in 'hurt'.

"Good," she said coldly, before beginning to inhale her pasta.

She had just finished as Neil stalked out with his order. She slammed some money on the table and sprinted out after him.

Allen, having had his meal-time show was now, finally, prepared to eat.

"Allen," a voice said, stopping him.

Iroha came and sat in the third seat. "Hey."

"Hey," he said. Not his usual greeting, but he was thrown off guard. They hadn't really seen Iroha for a couple days and Rio had been growing worried. Iroha, obviously, was trying to play the whole 'disappearing' thing down he supposed. "What's new in the world of my favourite blacksmith?" He asked, for once deciding not to poke at her obvious nervousness.

"I've been working," she said. "I have progressed much in these past three days. My head has cleared as well."

"Well that's dandy," he said.

She glanced at Rio's now empty plate, "I suppose Rio has just left?"

"Chasing after her man," he said with the slightest hint of a smirk.

Iroha, knowing that look better than anyone scowled. "What did you do this time?"

Allen just shrugged. "Nothing, I swear."

Tina and Rod laughed again and they both quieted.

"You really fine?" he asked.

"Absolutely great." She reaffirmed. "This was for the best, I needed to continue focusing more on my training anyway. My father always taught that a blacksmith must be more firm than that which he welds. It is why he also thought a woman could never master the trade. I set out to prove him wrong. Though last week I nearly showed him right."

Allen just grimaced, not really a fan of the whole metaphor mumbo jumbo. "Though in the end it's really just your tool that has to be hard. It's not like your pounding steel with your fists, just like I don't cut hair with my wit."

"But is it not true you must be sharp as your scissors?" she asked.

"Geez." He finally sighed, "On both ends of the spectrum, you and Rio both are such downers today."

* * *

"Wait! Neil!" Rio called.

Neil paused a stride curiously, letting the farmer catch up. "What's up?" He asked.

"About the stuff I was saying…" She said. "Don't be mad! I was joking! Playing the stereotypical biologist!"

"Huh?" He looked at her in confusion.

"Well you know… 'cause they aren't into the whole spiritual side of things they're portrayed as cold and stuff. I really like you! I don't care about the reasoning behind it." She said desperately.

He just looked at her awkwardly. "Well yeah… I know. I just mean, why'd you think I was mad at you?"

She paused. "What?"

"Look," he said, not breaking his stride despite her stopping. "If you want to talk you gotta walk and talk. I really need to be getting back to the stalls. That love-struck idiot's still not back from lunch and I've got no one covering my stall OR his."

"So." She clarified, "You were actually mad at Rod?"

"Well yeah!" He said as they finally reached the stalls. He unpacked his meal. "He's using _both_ our lunch breaks. I've been _starving _and I didn't pack a lunch."

"You really need to work on who you're sending your angry vibes at," she said. "They just kind of radiate and I have no idea what you're thinking."

"What I'm thinking…." He said thoughtfully. Then smirked.

"What?" She asked nervously.

"I was just thinking about how exactly I fit into Rio Gold's secret reproductive agenda." He said slyly.

It was like a bomb of heat and embarrassment went off inside her. "Oh Goddess." She said. "I have to go."

He just continued to look smug as she left. She turned back in annoyance. "Stop thinking about it!" She called before ducking her head and heading out into the forest area. She needed to get some foraging and mining done anyway.

A couple hours later and she proudly could have sworn she had stripped the whole place of its loot. Her backpack, incredibly full, bulged and she had to hunch to support the weight with her whole back. In a angle that had her looking down the whole trek, one would think she'd have noticed the tree root breaking up the little path up ahead, but she didn't, so she tripped.

She shook her head as she brushed the dirt of the knees of her overalls and attempted to stand back up, but her left leg seemed almost asleep and she crumpled back down. Shrugging her backpack off she stretched her legs out and attempted to make circles with her ankle, but it was hard to move.

That couldn't be good.

**Okay, so... it's been awhile, sorry. Though now that I finally have no time to write, I feel properly motivated to write. Yay!**

**Singer of Water- Not sure his parents will be making an appearance but you will be hearing more about them for sure ;) I'd like to think he'd be good as a dad, he's so good to his animals after all. **

**CrimsonCrush- Term was great! Now onto a new one :P Definitely, people tend to have more than one personality based off who their with. (I've recently noticed I go full valley girl when I talk to strangers and I'm mortified 0_0) it's so hard to show in writing though without making them "OC" in the reader's eyes. It's just like how I specifically have to give my characters all ONE talent since apparently multi talented people are unrelatable. Yet I look at nearly every one of my friends and think, "If I wrote you. You'd be a Mary Sue and people'd complain your not real enough" Unrealistically perfect is kinda the new standard for society, you know? That was a ch20 reveiw response :P Anyway, Iroha and Allen... We'll see ;)**

**CheetosPotato- 27 little Allens. Dear lord. Don't be too mad at Rod XD he seriously had no idea. I guess there were technically crossed wires in this chapter... and sorta angry words... just not quite how you probably anticipated.**

**Cyanote- Yeah, Allen and Iroha are pretty fun to write. And Rio and Allen. And just Allen in general. I am definitely trying out different character interactions in this story but Iroha and Allen is always easy.**

**Savitron5- I wasn't ever really considering the IrohaxRod ship, been there, done that in Restoration Plan. As for AllenxIroha... maybe ;) Let's see where the wind takes us. I won't spoil anything**

**Whimsical Symphony- Ok, so we've been PMing so rather than giving a full response I'll just say again, thanks so much for all the advice! I tried to keep all the speech mechanics in check this time but some might have slipped through the cracks, I caught myself quite a few times this chapter though XD It's hard when you've been doing one way for so long. I'm so grateful though. I'm taking a creative writing course this term at Uni and It'd be so embarrassing if I messed that up. So you have saved me from learning the hard way :)**

**Number13teen- Hehe thanks, it's always good to know you were able to stir some sort of emotion out of your audience**

**Guest- Thank you! Yeah poor Rod. I'm glad you agree with the 'cute' think. I know in Iroha's heart events she gets disappointed if you call her cool and all blushy and happy if you call her cute, so I figured it'd only be natural she'd fall for Rod. But. Like. She's NOT cute. She's mega wicked calm and collected and hardworking and I just think cute is so insulting to all that.**

**Psycho Kay- I love to throw in some angst every now and again but really, I just didn't really think the Rod of this story suited the Iroha of this story. I had pushed them together in RP6 cause at base level she likes being called cute and he likes calling people cute but I wanted to go deeper. As I was saying to the guest above, cute is just so demeaning to her whole character but she doesn't see it. As for IrohaxAllen, Maybe ;) They'd need a lot of work first though XD**


	23. Chapter 23

**Oh my gosh. It has been forever. But this chapter just WOULD. NOT. WRITE. finally I just sat down, forced myself and painfully pushed through. Hopefully now I can move on and write the more interesting chapters. UGGG.**

* * *

It was as if the forest had tripled in size. A bird of unknown species shrieked in the distance, its call echoing through the vastness of the wood- bouncing and breaking until the sound seemed to rush her from all angles.

She was an idiot. A total and complete idiot to have let this happen. She pulled her arms in closer to herself with a slight shiver.

It was a colder day, one of those nipping autumns you get at the tail end of the season, but aside from when she first left the house that morning, she hadn't noticed it much as her work kept her warm.

Now the cool damp earth felt like ice against the exposed flesh of her hands. It was a little wet and it seeped into the pants of her overalls in the most uncomfortable way.

It was only a few moments that felt like an eternity before Rio realized she wasn't getting back up. She had done _something _to her leg and it wasn't one of those, go-to-the-doctor-and-get-better-the-next-day things.

She wiggled her ankle, _does it hurt? _She assessed.

No. It tingled though, thousands of little dull needles jingled with the movement as if her leg were asleep. "Not good." She said to herself. Her leg was hard to move, in all likelihood her ankle was swelling under the boot- she'd be best off to keep it on for support.

She tried to move it again and this time was stopped when she felt a little pain.

She needed to get to Klaus immediately, before it hurt too much to do so.

_What time is it?_ No, she knew. It had been roughly three hours since her lunch break, and with lunch at twelve it had to be around three.

She looked back to her backpack, she definitely couldn't move with it but if she started her way back and left it behind, anyone who came across it might see she needed help and go looking for her.

So that just left how to move... She scooted forward a little, while raising her injured leg. That didn't seem to hurt too much. She did it again.

It was a long trailing dirt path going down back into town, but if she made it out she'd be in the town square and Neil would be there to help. His worried face crossed her mind and she suddenly felt the motivation to make it.

It wasn't easy, and it took an agonizing amount of time the way she moved. Occasionally, she'd reach a little log or other obstacle in the path and have to do a series of graceless moves to maneuver around it.

Halfway down, the shock began to wear off and her leg and ankle stung, she hissed as she bumped it on a rock and collapsed for a moment as the short bursts of pain subsided. She quickly readjusted and pushed on.

It was getting so tiring, her arms were now sore and shook with the effort of supporting her weight.

The pain was good incentive to continue though, it would only come to hurt more it she wasn't fast. She hobbled on her three legged scuttle at twice the speed she had been going. Eventually, she reached the forest's edge and with triumph, pushed the rest of the way through.

She stopped though when she saw the square.

It was empty.

It had took her too long and they had packed up for the day.

She slumped in fatigue. Compared to the hike down, the hospital wasn't too far away. She could make the rest of the journey on her own. Still, it was like doing a marathon, completing it and the being told that it was actually another mile. Plus, somehow it was embarrassing to butt-schooch across the town plaza. She could only imagine how she'd look to the first person to see her through their shop windows

Luckily, as she was sitting at the forest entrance, Trent appeared on his daily jog.

He took one look at her and went straight from jogging to sprinting. "Rio! What happened?"

"Who said anything happened?" She asked, "Maybe I'm just too tired to stand after rolling around in the mud all day."

He went straight for the leg that was sticking out. "Where is it?" He asked.

"Ankle." She said and he grimaced.

He began to take off her boot, "What happened?"

"I fell." She said.

He shook his head in annoyance, "Really now's not the time for jokes what happened?"

Embarrassed, she ran a finger along a crack in the bricked ground, "I… actually fell. On a tree root."

"Let me go get Klaus and something to get you back to the clinic in." He said.

It was thirty minutes in the clinic with Trent worrying and Klaus scolding before they both came to the same consensus that'd she'd have to go to the closest hospital outside of town. They weren't sure how bad the damage was without the proper equipment but Rio could have sworn she heard them say 'surgery' one or two times.

The next few hours were a whirl of confusing moments. Trent had driven her to the hospital, they had got her into a wheelchair and she was pushed around doctor to nurse to surgeon to nurse, all who would look over her for a moment before talking to Trent- who apparently had done his first internship there.

From all this, Trent finally came over, sat on the edge of the emergency room cot and smiled sympathetically. Not a 'good news' smile, a doctor-delivering-bad-news-but-trying-to-lighten-it smile. Her fibula had a rather nasty crack and her ankle was sprained, split slightly at the ligaments. It took three doctors to make an affirmative decision, but she'd probably need surgery to avoid any adverse effects years down to road.

"but it's ultimately up to you." He said, "It'll take longer to recover probably all winter but it's what I'd recommend."

She shook her head in disbelief. "I tripped."

He squeezed her shoulder in reassurance.

"I tripped and now I need surgery." She sighed, and a moment later, "Okay yeah fine. Whatever, cut me open."

"It's the better decision." He agreed and left to inform the hospital staff.

An hour later she was in the operation room. The last thing she remembered was the surgeon's voice slowly counting down, "3, 2-"

What was only an instant later to her, she was waking up to whiteness. She blinked in confusion and tried to sit up but found herself too weak to budge. The white blur she was seeing focused and she realized she was looking at a ceiling. She forced her head sideways, one way then the other. She was back in her hospital room. Knowing Trent had its benefits, they had found her a single-person room where she had been stranded until surgery and forced into one of those hideous blue hospital gowns.

She tried to touch her broken leg with her good one only to find she had a fabric cast on she hadn't before.

"Oh good, you're up." A nurse walked in briskly and fiddled with various things at her bedside. "The surgery was a success. We're keeping you here over night to recover and then I understand you have a clinic in your home town you may go to."

"Yeah." Was all she could say eyelids feeling oddly heavy. "Heeeey, there's no chance we might be able to crack a window is there? This room is so heavy and stiff."

The nurse looked flat out offended. "Of course not! This is a _sterile_ room!" in a huff she rummaged through the closet and dragged out an electric fan. "Here. This has been sterilized." She plugged it in, flipped it on and left.

The fan was annoying. It blew cold air in her face at every interval and the bed curtain fluttered all over, hindering her sight and flapping with each sway.

"Rio." A voice said and the curtains fell back down for a moment to show a certain red eyed man at the door.

"Who are you?" She asked,

The horrified look on his face made her immediately regret her joke. "Just kidding." She said quickly. "That was supposed to be funny and then….. it wasn't. Hello my lover."

"Don't joke like that." He scolded, unfortunately ignoring the 'lover' bit that she'd hoped would distract him.

"It was a _leg_ injury. I didn't just go through brain surgery." She rolled her eyes.

"Rio. Seriously." He sighed.

"Don't be mad at me, I'm hurt." She pouted, trying her best to sound cute despite how weak her voice was and how hideous she undoubtedly looked.

He was quiet, still not really coming in he leaned against the door. "I'm not mad at you." He admitted, "I just wanted to be here before you woke up."

"Don't worry 'bout it. I just woke up a couple of minutes ago." Her voice sounded odd and somewhat slurred. She tried reach up to gesture him over, but couldn't. "Wow, you know the stuff they use to put you out is strong, I can't even lift my arm yet."

He smiled weakly and walked over, taking the seat at her bedside.

"You look drugged." He agreed wryly.

"Shut up." She rolled her eyes, "that's not what you're supposed to say."

"You look cute even when you're drugged." He edited solemnly and surprised her when he reached out to her hand and gave it one tight squeeze.

"Goddess damn right I do." She nodded.

"Rio…" He frowned. "I didn't know until it was too late. Forget when you woke up, I should have been there when they sent you off to surgery…. Were you scared?"

"No." She said, "Well maybe a little… but Trent was there."

She saw him stiffen and worried he might be about to go into one of those jealous silent fits he used to before they started dating. "He's also the one that found you when you were injured?"

She nodded.

He sighed, "I'll have to thank him later. Still doesn't mean I like him though."

They were quiet for a bit. Usually Rio loved his silent introspective moments but she wished he'd speak, she was going to fall back asleep otherwise and he'd leave. Her eyes wanted nothing more than to shut, the drugs determined to reclaim her.

"I should have been there." He finally said.

"I told you, its fine." She said.

Finally annoyed with the fan he shut it off aggressively.

"See?" She said, "You're here when it matters. I was probably gonna start throwing things at it in a couple minutes."

He shook his head. "You have no idea how loopy you sound right now."

"Bleeeh." Was all she could think to reply with at that.

"Next time, I'm going to be with you the whole time I promise." He said.

She just scrunched her eyebrow, "Whoa whoa, no way. I'd rather there just not _be_ a next time."

He almost laughed despite himself, "True."

"I'll be there for _you _though." She said in consolation.

He flicked her forehead, "Well don't wish this upon me either."

She stuck out her tounge weakly then leaned back further into her pillow. "I'm tired."

"Should I leave so you can sleep?" he asked.

He tried to pull his hand away but she had just enough strength to hold him there. "No don't."

He looked at her.

"I like you here." She tried to explain. "uh, like not seeing you in a hospital but like… um."

She hoped he'd leap in and finish her sentence for her, after enough pause he did, "here." He said.

She laughed at the simplicity and nodded. "I like talking to you. We never talk you know? Even in the village…"

He grimaced, "You know I'm not so good at-"

"You're great, we're doing it right now and you are doing… " She bit her lip, "Oh Goddess, I forgot the word for 'better than good'." She wracked her brain, "Oh. I was originally going to say great."

"You did." He told her.

"When?" She asked.

"A second ago." He said in amused disbelief.

"Oh yeah, I did. Did I mention how tired I was?"

"Yeah on second thought I'm really going to go and let you sleep." He said.

He was stopped as he was getting up by a little whine, "Noooooooo."

He sat back down and they stared at each other, her too tired to speak and him just at a total loss. "I'm starting to wonder if I've ever started a single conversation in my entire life." He admitted.

"And there it is then, your first starter." She announced.

"Describe your day." She said.

"Nothing new." He reported.

"Your breakfast?" She asked.

"Toast."

She sighed, "okay yeah, you suck at this."

"Just go to bed Rio." He said.

"I can't."

"Why?"

She blushed and looked away. "I uh, could you get a nurse?"

He sat up in alarm, "Why? What happened? Are you hurting?"

"No… I… hm…. I have to use the facilities." She admitted.

He just stood there. "For what?"

"No, I mean I have to, you know, 'powder my nose' so to speak." She fidgeted.

He looked even more bewildered.

"For Goddess' sake Neil! I'm about to pee myself!" She blurted.

"Oh." He said.

"I need help getting over there." She said, pointing at the washroom.

"I can help you with that." He offered.

"No." She refused stubbornly.

"Why?" He asked.

"Cause I wanna keep some dignity in your eyes." She argued.

His expression softened and he leaned in, "Oh Rio…" Then in her ear, "You lost all that a long time ago."

"Fine, let's just do this." She huffed.

He had to practically do everything but carry her as she hopped over, carrying her IV drip with her on a rolling post. Her leg seared as if the blood in her veins had been replaced with lava.

Eventually she got to the little washroom and she pushed him out.

When she was done she opened the door back up and he helped her out, she doubled over in pain.

"Rio." He said in worry.

"I'm fine. It's fine. This is all going to be fine", she grunted. "Seriously everyone's acting so grim. I'm going to heal right back up in time for spring. Replant my gardens-"

"Rio." He interrupted but she ignored him.

"This is just a small set back. Heck Who knows, maybe I'll expand my barn-"

"Rio." He said again more firmly. "You're crying."

She was, bawling even. Surprise overwhelmed her when he pulled her into a tight hug. "It's going to be okay Rio." He said.

There was something about her little excursion to the other room that had woken her up and now she could think clearly. "No its not." She sobbed as he pulled away a million years too early and helped her the rest of the way back to the bed. "I can't even go to the bathroom myself Neil! What am I going to do?!"

"I've got animals to feed, plants to harvest..." She went pale, "I... with the summer drought and all, I barely broke even. I was going to have to forage and mine all winter! I don't have enough to live off of!"

"I'll take care of you." He said, "it'll work."

She wasn't listening, "This is not how my first year was supposed to go! I know its not supposed to be easy at first but I thought I could do it... I was supposed to be _good._"

"You are." He insisted, "you've already won festivals, not to mention rebuilt this town."

"The restoration plans!" She exclaimed.

"Can wait." He said sternly.

"Oh Goddess." She buried her face in her hands but he tore them away so she'd be forced to look at him.

"Rio. Don't worry. Don't worry about anything, I'm here with you."

She just shook her head. "I can't ask you for that Neil, we just started dating. It's too much to expect of you!"

The oddest look crossed his face, one that looked oddly out of place. Was it hurt? Sadness? She had to go over in her head what she'd said but she still didn't see what could have possibly had him react as if he'd just been bit by an animal he trusted.

He stood up, "I gotta go.. get coffee or something. This isn't the time for us to..." He didn't even finished that sentence before he had already rushed out, Passing Hana on her way in.

She watched him go, "My, that boy is always coming and going in a huff."

"I think he's mad at me again." Rio sighed.

"Now why would you think that?" Asked the old woman. Rio just had to give the door a second look for Hana to shake her head, "Fair enough."

"I didn't even really do anything this time." Rio argued, "I just told him he didn't have to go so far out of his way to help-"

"Of course he's mad!" Hana said in surprise.

"What?" Rio asked, taken aback.

"If Kosaburo said something like that back when we were dating I'd have smacked him!" She said sternly.

"I don't understand." Rio said.

"I suppose you newer folks wouldn't understand..." Hana sighed. "I'm so happy to see the village growing but it seems some of out traditions are gone. What do you suppose that ring on your finger is?"

"The commitment ring?" Rio asked.

"Back in my day the ring had _meant_ something, namely commitment. A man would only present it to a woman if he was serious about her. If he could sit down and imagine someday marrying her! She'd only accept it if she could do the same"

"Marriage?" Rio asked in shock.

"Well of course, its different in the cities, there are only so many people in a village, if you get together you'd better be in it for the long run. You can't afford to just date loosely. One bad break up could tear the village apart, _'commitment'_ ring."

"I didn't know this." Rio said.

"Of course not, it's taken much less serious among your cohort, they are all new and just think it's a cute little dating tradition." Hana told her.

Rio nodded a little in relief.

"Of course," Hana added, "Neil's the only one of you whose originally from the village so maybe you should take a moment to wonder what the ring means to him."

Rio stared at her in surprise. So, did Neil care more than she thought? She had been so frustrated awhile back that he wouldn't just come out and confess, she didn't realize how much it actually meant. She was treating this like a casual relationship and he was serious. No wonder he was upset. She wondered just how much she'd hurt him back there when he realized the ring hadn't meant to her what it did to him.

Hana stayed for awhile at her side fretting about her health until Neil finally returned.

"Hey," he said casually as if he hadn't just stormed out a short while before.

"Neil..." She said quietly, wishing she could say more.

Hana got the hint an chuckled, "Well, this old lady knows when its time to go. See you in the village Rio."

"Yes, of course." Rio said quickly, "thanks for coming!"

Hana just shook her head with humor as she left.

Neil came back to the seat, "Uh, sorry. I just, something made me kinda irritated and I didn't want to fight when you were hurt like this but when I stepped away I realized I overreacted anyway... I promised you I'd stop doing that."

"It's okay Neil. I was at fault too." She said. "If our positions were reversed, I would have done everything to help you too. We don't really have family out here to lean on, but we have each other. That's important, and I made light of it."

She shifted a little to allow herself to sit up more, "Hey Neil?"

"Yeah?" He asked.

"What's your last name?"

"What?" He asked in surprise.

"I got scolded by Hana before. Apparently I was supposed to imagine marrying you before accepting the ring. I tried to right now and realized I couldn't, 'cause I don't even know your last name." She told him.

She had never seem him go so red before. "Rio, It's fine! Let's just go at our own pace. Forget what she said!"

The urge to tease him welled up as it always did when she got him flustered. "Neil? Why can't you just tell me your last name? Is it that embarrassing? If that's the case I think I deserve to know right here and now."

"It's Brown." He said.

She laughed and he almost looked offended. "You realize I'd be Farmer Brown then? That's such a stereotypical country name!"

"Anything sounds country if you put "farmer" in front, 'Farmer Gold'." He argued.

She nodded, "Still, no option for hyphenated names there huh? 'Rio Gold-Brown', 'Rio Brown-Gold', 'Rio Brownish Gold', 'Rio Bronze'?"

She made sure to be looking at him squarely when she asked, "Rio Brown, What do you think?"

"It.. doesn't sound too bad." He admitted.

"Yeah." She smiled, "I suppose it doesn't. Maybe I'll keep this ring on a while longer-" She reached for her ring finger and paused when she didn't feel the cool metal. "It's not here!" She said in surprise.

He reached to the table beside her, "it's here, they must have taken it off." The ring was in a little baggie marked biohazard.

"How dare they." She joked.

He pulled the ring out and stared at it. "Rio, hold out your finger."

She obliged and he slide it back on. "There," he said, "don't go losing it again, even if you're unconscious."

"I won't." She promised.

"And don't worry about leaning on me." He said.

"I won't." She promised. They then proceeded to look anywhere but at each other.

"Rio!" The door flung open to reveal Iroha. "Are you okay?"

"Of course she isn't." Allen said, coming in casually after her. He took one look at the scene before him before grimacing, "I can feel the awkward romance waves from here, I thought I'd finally escaped it once I left Rod tied to a tree back in the village."

They hurried over and Neil glared.

"Shoo," Allen said, "it's our turn now."

"Allen, be polite." Iroha scolded.

"I gotta go anyway." Neil siad, getting up, "I'll see you tommorow Rio."

"See you." She said quietly.

"So Rio," asked Allen, "How does it feel to be crippled?"

Iroha punched him, hard.

Rio laughed.

* * *

**Oh wow, it's been so long I'm not sure the same people are even still around to read my responses, but let's do this anyway:**

**CrimsonCrush: Haha yeah, it's weird how even when you know there's a science to everything, it doesn't really matter as long as you enjoy it I guess? Like, its sometimes contradictions in personality that makes someone balanced. **

**Tolkienlover: Thank you so much! XD yeah I was pretty proud of that line I must say. Writing Allen is the most fun so expect to see a lot more of him before I wrap up. Still waiting on another Reager fic from you! (lol no rush but actually maybe some rush)**

**kiwi50: Aw thanks for reading, y'all make me smile**

**Psycho Kay: No bears, and unfortunatly, no Neil. Such is life: sucks to be the Rio written into my one more realistic fic XD Actually, for this particular Rio, maybe she should be glad nothing with 'bears' happened.**

**CyanNote: Nothing like the "he's right behind me isn't he?" Funny in fics, deathly embarrassing in real life. Its a good thing they have Iroha, Allen and Rio are to weird when they're left alone together**

**Haliska: Hey new reader! Sorry I made you wait so incredibly long right after you just started to get into it. As for Iroha and Allen... we'll see ~~~ honoured to be your first HM fic**

**Peachie: I've actually never had to read that one in class, actually I'd never heard of it before so maybe its just not part of my province's curriculum. Sounds world's better than Love in the Time of Cholera though. We'll see what in store for Allen and Iroha~~~ **

**Kelley28: I hope the suspense has not killed you. (laughs nervously and hopes you weren't serious)**

**Erin P: Well, you know you've been gone a long time when even your most recent review was almost 4 months ago.. heh heh, I feel so bad. Yeah, I like to do reader responses though its something I strictly do for my HM stories, its a benefit of a lesser sized fandom that you get to know a lot of the other people. Thanks for reading!**


	24. Chapter 24

"Ug." She sighed once again, "I still can't decide how to thank everyone for yesterday. It was a really huge favor, I'll _have_ to do something for them all."

"You really will, that harvest wreaked havoc on my body." Allen agreed, frustration clear on his face at as he concentrated on braiding her hair with unusual clumsiness. "Though I suppose I must commend you that you managed to do that on your own at the end of every other season."

She looked at him in surprise, accidentally tugging her hair away when she faced him.

With a smirk, he shook his shoulders in the hint of a shrug, "What? I do give out compliments when I think they're earned you know." Then he propped one knee up on the bed to gain leverage and forcefully turned her head away again and held it in place, "Now stay still this time!"

"I told everyone they could take home some of the things they harvested. They did take me up on that right?"

"Yeah, I think a bunch of people took a couple things home."

She sighed in relief, "Well, that at least makes me feel a little better. I was a pretty huge thing to ask of everyone."

"Hun, you built almost all our houses, I'd say we owed you in the first place. Stop thinking about it." He sighed. "Let's change the topic."

Rio frowned. It seemed there was very little to talk about anymore. The last three days involved transferring back to the village, convincing Klaus to let her recover at home and subsequently she'd been sitting around all day doing nothing.

"I regret not getting a dog a season back." She sighed, "It seemed like a lot of work to train one but if I had one to call the animals in, Neil wouldn't have to overwork himself so much. He's been looking pretty tired… You overlook the plaza at the salon, how does he look to you?"

"Moody." Allen shrugged, "What else is new?"

"I just don't want him to regret his offer… if it's too much he could just tell me and I could hire temporary help."

"Rio, how many times are you going to dwell over this? It's fine. He doesn't mind." She could almost hear his sardonic smirk_, "But you'd think you'd have had some piece of mind, after you two dramatically declared your love for one and other back at the hospital…"_

Rio dropped her face into her hands, "Why do I even tell you these things?"

"Goddess knows, I keep telling you how little I want to hear about everyone's puppy lovelifes." He tugged at her hair forcing her head back up. "And I keep telling you! Stop moving so much!"

"But I need someone to do this girl talk with or I'll explode! Neil's so confusing!" She whined.

"Well you have Iroha, an _actual_ girl. Why not ask her?" He suggested.

After a moment of quiet they both burst out laughing.

"You two do both realize I am here." Iroha called over. "In the kitchen. I can literally hear every word."

"We know." They both called.

Rio hadn't done the proper renovations yet either so her house was still _very _'open concept'.

Iroha stood a distance away in the kitchen, hand on hips in a gesture of 'unimpressed'.

"You know Allen, I didn't even eat with you two. Why is it exactly that_ I_ am doing the dishes?"

Allen shrugged, "Honestly, I wasn't sure why either. I just assumed you like doing them or something."

"This is the point where generally the other person comes and helps." She huffed.

"Hun there isn't anything general about me."

Rio supressed a giggle. After all, she knew the true reason Allen couldn't get up. When he sat there so proudly, and you knew the whole story, it was almost impossible not to laugh.

She just rolled her eyes and pointed at him, "I wonder what Neil would think if he saw you sitting like that with his girlfriend?"

"What do you-" Rio started to ask but then had to acknowledge that they did indeed look rather friendly. Nothing indecent of course but she supposed no one would want their boyfriend walking in to see his girl sitting on her bed cuddled up between a guy he hate's legs.

"He's just helping me with my hair." Rio explained. "I can't get into a shower right now so he's been giving me dry shampoos and tying my hair up so I at least _look_ less disgusting than I feel."

"I still suggest you come to the salon when you can so I can wash the hair properly in the sink." He said.

She sighed, "I regret making your salon so far away."

"Well, I supposed we could try with your bathroom sink." He compromised.

"But seriously," Iroha insisted, "Doesn't Neil usually come around this time after work? Don't you suppose maybe you should get off her bed Allen? You know how he'll react, he hates you"

"I can't imagine why."

"I can think of two separate events for the why." A voice interrupted.

All heads turned to the animal dealer leaning in casually from outside on the frame of the open window.

"Hi Neil!" Rio called.

"Rio." He greeted wryly.

"Hi Neil!" Allen parroted with equal joyfulness.

Neil ignored him and instead entered the house, "Iroha." He nodded in acknowledgement.

"Neil." She greeted. "Are you here to see Rio?"

"Uh, yeah." He admitted.

"Well then we wouldn't want to intrude. Come on Allen, we should get going anyway." She said, turning to the stylist.

Being so close to her, only Rio noticed him visibly stiffen and she giggled once again.

"Well," he started in expertly faked indignation, "Why must we scamper off every time he comes over? There's no reason we can't all get along!"

Rio shook her head in amusement, "Give it up Allen, your only prolonging this moment."

He shot her a look of betrayal and sighed, "Fine let's go."

Slowly, painfully, he slid his legs to the side of the bed and stood- certain joints cracking quite audibly in a way that made everyone wince.

Neil smirked, "Sore?" He asked, "Still? Someone's out of shape."

Rio rolled her eyes and threw a well-aimed pillow at him, "Oh hush!" She said playfully in defence of her friend. "He doesn't get the same type of exercise in his job as we do!"

Allen stood with as much dignity as he could muster, but a very faint blush could be identified colouring his cheeks.

He glanced at Iroha nervously – where his nervous face apparently looked exactly like his indifferent face. "Might as well get this all over with now. Anything you'd like to say as well at my expense?"

Iroha looked surprised. "Me? Of course not- well not about this but I say things at your expense every day. Clearly you gave it your all the other day to help out Rio- why would I make fun of that? I'm impressed."

His posture straightened a little as his ego visibly reinflated. "Good girl." He laughed, waking towards her and putting a hand on her shoulder, "For that I'll treat you to something nice at the restaurant."

Losing her momentary respect for him, she abruptly lifted his arm and he doubled over in pain, "Careful! It doesn't bend that high right now!" He gasped.

"I know." She said darkly. "Still, I'll take you up on that offer seeing as you two ate without me." She paused from walking towards the door. "I'll see you tomorrow Rio."

"Later!" Rio called.

"Later Rio, If I don't come back tomorrow- tell Tina if was this barbarian woman." Allen said.

Rio gave him a confused look, "What makes you think I'd be on your side instead of hers?"

Allen cringed, "Harsh, so much for me being your best gal pal. Next time you want to talk about all your lovey-dovey feelings for that grouch over there, find someone else."

He left and Rio blushed intensely, wishing she could just sink into the bed completely.

"Uh… You guys talk about me?" She could hear Neil ask, sounding just about as awkward as she felt.

"Well… yeah. You never talk about me?"

"Uh… yeah. I guess I do." He admitted.

Goddess the air felt like it was trying to crush her. "Exactly." She said quietly.

He took his usual chair by her bedside and slumped, she finally looked at him- and then bit her lip. "You look awful!" She said without thinking.

"Well sorry!" He snapped, "I've been up since five to take care of your animals!"

She glanced down guiltily, "Sorry."

He buried his face in is hand, "And there I go again. Sorry, I'm just still adjusting- I get a little snappish when I'm tired."

"Tired?" She asked, "Neil you look exhausted."

He did. His skin looked pale and his eyes were just a little too lifeless. She hated seeing him this way, and even more so hated the fact that she couldn't help him because she was the reason he was in this shape. "Please." She begged and reached out to fiddle affectionately with a spike of his bangs, "just let me hire a farmhand."

"It's fine Rio." He said in annoyance and she pulled her hand away in worry.

"But it's the first day of winter tomorrow Neil- it's only going to get harder. The days are going to keep getting darker and colder. You're going to work yourself sick!"

"We can't afford a farmhand Rio!" He protested.

She looked at him in surprise. _We?_

"You didn't have an easy first year and I didn't exactly see this coming and save up. Winter's a leaner time for us animal dealers too." He grimaced.

"Yeah… I didn't mean I wanted you to pay…" She said.

"I would if I could though." He said, letting out a heavy sigh, "Just stop worrying, I thought we already went over this in the hospital- I know you don't like relying on people but geez-" he pinched the same lock of hair she had previously had in her grasp, "…Just rely on me already."

Her body warmed and she sighed in defeat. "Okay." She said, "Well, I guess I knew you'd say that so I made you this."

She pulled out a dark green knit scarf and handed it to him- or was going to but then she pulled it away. "Well, actually- I just started learning. Just a disclaimer: it's not that good- I mean its okay but just don't look at it too closely. Particularly not the 4th stitch on the 23rd row and-"

"Rio." He interrupted gently taking the scarf from her, "thanks."

"Yeah… No problem. Just stay warm okay?"

"Rio, I'm a 24 year old man and have lived alone since I was 18, you don't need to worry-"

"Just take care of yourself." She urged.

He shook his head in amusement, putting on the scarf experimentally, "You got it boss."

They were quiet again and she fidgeted. "You know…" She said.

He looked at her expectantly and she blushed. "Well, nah nevermind."

"What?" He asked.

"Well, I've had a lot of free time so I was reading this book…" She drifted off again, regretting even starting this conversation in the first place. It was something he said that prompted it but she hadn't figured out how to bring it up yet in a non-awkward way.

"and?" He pushed on.

"Well, more like a textbook." She corrected.

"Why were you reading a textbook?" He asked.

"Well if I'm going to be bedridden, I might as well be productive and learn something." She defended indignantly.

"Goddess." He said in shock. "You're a nerd?"

"Scientist." She reminded him, "People keep forgetting that."

He flicked her forehead, "Just get to the point dork."

She blushed, "Well I was reading about… love and…" She cringed, love was such a _strong_ word, how did she manage to use it so indifferently all these years? "Well there's this triangular theory…"

Fully enjoying her embarrassment he leaned back and settled in to watch her unravel at the seams.

"Ok, well first, You know how in engineering, the triangle is the strongest shape so they used it for stability in structures?" She asked.

"I guess." He nodded.

"Well there's a triangle that denotes a stable relationship as well. On one side there's commitment- and obviously we have that. Thenthere'spassion-" she quickly glossed over, "And lastly there's intimacy… and I thought maybe we could work on that."

He turned deep red, "intimacy?" then he shook his head with a mischievous grin she'd never seen before, standing to lean close to her over her bed, one hand on the mattress. "You want to get to know me more intimately Rio Gold?" He asked playfully.

She gulped, had he always been this hot?

Oh yes most definitely.

It took all her control to good-naturedly push him back into his seat. "Oh sit down, I think you're misunderstanding something."

He just continued to give her that loaded smirk.

"I want to get to know you better Neil. I didn't even know your last name until a couple days ago. I didn't know how old you were until you told me just now! These are things we should know about each other- Rod and Tina started dating after us and I'm sure they could tell you every single detail about one and other!" She explained.

"Fine," he crossed his arms, "ask away."

"What's your favourite colour?" She asked.

He stared at her for a second and then burst out into some very rare laughter. "All this lead in and that's what you ask me?"

"What's your favourite colour?" She repeated stubbornly.

"Blue." He said.

"Actually?" She asked in surprise.

"I guess." He shrugged.

"But… I've never seen you wear blue before." She protested.

"Let me guess, your favourite colour is green right Ms. Botany?" He asked, "Yet you never wear green."

"Touche." She agreed. "It's too bad though- I had a certain red number I thought you might like."

"Really?" He asked with a smirk and stood up.

She watched him in confusion until he started walking curiously to her closet. "WaitNeilNoIWasJokingStop!" She panicked.

He opened her wardrobe yet didn't seem to see anything red.

"Not in there." She admitted with a blush. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears.

He reached over to the accompanying dresser and began to open the top door and she almost shrieked out "Don'tOpenThat!"

She was too late and couldn't see his face from where he was standing with his back to her. The couple seconds that past felt like an eternity. "It was a Secret Santa gag gift," she said weakly, "I was joking… I didn't think you'd actually…"

He turned to her with a sultry simper dangling a red set of lingerie. She just wondered where the heck he suddenly got all this confidence from.

"My, my." He said almost sounding like Allen. Which if she really wanted to diffuse the mood she could actually point out. She didn't.

"You're right, we're learning so much more about one and other. Seeing new sides and _colours_." He teased.

"Damn that Chelsea." She muttered under her breath and then switched to pleading "Just for the love of all that is holy put them down. Or shoot me."

He put them back in the dresser and turned to her. "Well, I'm not really set on blue. I'm sure my favourite colour could change with the right persuasion."

She groaned, trying to sound more disproving of this development.

He glanced at the clock regretfully, "I should probably go if I want to wake up tomorrow."

"You just got here." She frowned.

He shrugged, "This was the earliest I could come after getting all the animals back in."

"I know." She admitted. "But still…"

"Night Rio." He said, hand ghosting the doorknob.

"Night." She said.

He gave her an awkward smile, "Thanks for the scarf."

"Yeah, no problem."

"I hope all your future questions are this much fun." He dodged the second pillow she threw at him. "You need to stop doing that." He commented, "You only had two, now what are you going to do?"

She was speechless upon realizing he was right.

"Who needs pillows anyway." She scoffed.

He returned from the door picking up both her projectiles on the way, fluffing them and stuffing them behind her forcing her face almost into his chest. When he backed up, now it was their faces in close proximity.

His eyes shone and she decided maybe red could become her new favourite colour as well.

Foe a brief moment, she wondered if he was going to kiss her, and found herself disappointed when he didn't and retreated back to the door. "See you tomorrow Rio."

"See you." She said weakly.

* * *

**Wow it took me forever to write this, words just wouldn't compose. Meanwhile I already got 10,000 words written for my Chelsea spin off- yes it is happening. I just need a title. I can never come up with titles. I think I should start posting soon though, since I already have so much- Expect the first chapter imminently if you're interested. Actually, by the time you are reading this it might already be up.**

**Though seriously, real moment, Harvest Moon and video games are completely ruining my street cred at work (and yes I do have street cred) A coworker and I were crossing an empty soy bean field and it was all:**

_**Him: Ah shoot, there's sprouts do you think their growing more? Should we be walking on this? They're a fall crop right?**_

_**Me: I don't know, but in this farming game I play I grow them all year round.**_

_**Him: Farming Game?**_

_**Me: What? I don't know what you're talking about. (moments later) Hey, do you think this is what they identify as loamy?**_

_**Him: What's loamy?**_

_**Me: Well you know.. loamy. Like in the old pokemon games they used to be all like "the soil is soft and loamy, would you like to plant a berry?"**_

_**Him: I don't know what you're talking about.**_

_**Me: ... Okay, yea cool, whatever-**_

_**Him: RUN!**_

**ME: What- NOPENOPENOPEEEEEK! *conversation disrupted by ****a thirty minute RPG style boss battle with a hornet***

**Reader Reviews:**

**LittleStraySheep- Ha, thanks. Glad you're enjoying these chapters. I'm always worried they might be a little boring. I mean, They've already got together and now Rio can't go places, it's not easy keeping it interesting so I was worried about how people would receive the last chapter**

**Cyanote- I have allll the fun with Allen and Iroha. Allen just writes himself. Thanks as always for reading!**

**Psycho Kay- And I'm sure you've completely forgotten again in the time it's taken me to update *nervous laugh*. I do that all the time with stories I'm following too. (though I'm not really following that many right now- just watching everyday for a certain Soul Eater/Harry Potter crossover fic to finally update again) About that other thing- well I already PM'd you. LOL. OMG NO. JUST NO. DIDN'T HAPPEN**

**CrimsonCrush- Relying on other people is hard :/ It goes against everything you want to do- it's easy to help others yet also so hard to accept help. And that's always been Rio's thing: being independent and ****reliable. It doesn't help that their relationship is still so awkward. **

**nn- Haha, glad to see a new reader! Yeah I actually really like Denny too... I just can't write him, as I found when I tried writing a Raeger fic: Writing non tsundere stories are hard because their personalities cause half the story line most of the time. Plus it's fun writing Chelsea tormenting him**


	25. Chapter 25

**Hey friends, shameless advertising here (cause I can): The Chelsea spin-off "Kind is the River" is now out if you want to check it out. Or don't, 'cause, you know, not everyone that plays ANB played IoH. I can dig that.**

**Might be a while before I can update anything again, Structural labs will be my downfall, I'm so bad and this spacial reasoning stuff**

* * *

She was… bored. Very bored actually.

After re-fluffing them for the hundredth time, Rio leaned back into her pillows with a discontented sigh. Back when she was working the insane 6:00-11:00 hours she'd never have guessed there'd be a time she'd get sick of her bed but... here she was.

She had started off her morning all warm and cozy. Neil had peeked in after letting out her animals and she had even managed to coerce him into making her a hot chocolate despite his aversion to even _looking_ at anything sweet. She smiled to herself at a private joke, he was hard on sweets but surprisingly weak to sweet talking.

So that was nice for a while… but sitting in bed all day does make you rather sluggish and uncomfortable. Her bed sheet was coming off in one corner from all her shuffling and her blanket had long since been kicked to the foot of her bed.

She needed to _move_.

Well she technically could, after all, she _could _at least get up now. It had been three weeks since the surgery. Klaus had already removed the staples and replaced her fabric cast with a fiber glass one. She could stand up on one foot and move on her crutches but it hurt to be upright for too long (because of blood flow she supposed) and her hands were too full keeping herself up to hold things so she didn't have many reasons to get up that often anyway. Basically her world was confined to bed, bathroom and kitchen table as long as she propped up her leg on an adjacent chair.

Even when she recovered more and did get more adept at her crutches she could see that she probably wouldn't be going out this season. The snow up in Echo Village was shockingly much worse than it was in her college or hometown. Already enough snow had built up outside that Neil often looked like an abominable snowman by the time he trekked through her farm to see her.

She glanced at the clock. Speaking of Neil, surely he had to be there soon. It was already getting dark and she was growing impatient, she'd been waiting to see him all day!

It was about the time he usually came, (generally with takeout) and talked with her for a couple minutes before rushing home. How sad it was that those couple minutes were usually the highlight of her day.

She had gotten a new issue of Nature that morning but no matter how sophisticated and detailed the magazine, when you have an entire day you _will _blitz through it. The only thing keeping her sane was the occasional cluck from a chicken or moo from a cow that'd she'd hear outside to remind her time wasn't standing still.

As if timed to that thought a loud moo pierced the silence. Then in strange succession she heard her chickens. Finally, there was some barking.

Her blood froze, _she didn't have a dog_.

Again she could hear what she recognized as Lait's moo but it sounded frightened. She jolted up, fumbling with her crutches before hopping to the window.

A large shaggy brown creature was leaping up at her cow who had stationed herself protectively in front of the other livestock. The dog had slipped between the wood fencing and had them trapped. All Rio saw was the threatening brown blur and the flashes of white of its snapping jaws as it continued to lash out at her cow. That was all she needed to see before tearing to the door.

It flung open with the wind as she turned the handle, exposing herself fully to the cold winter air.

"Hey!" She shouted but the dog continued its assault, "Hey!" She screamed louder.

When that didn't work she rushed out, not caring that her feet were still just in slipper socks or that she was in a rather thin pair of pajamas. Immediately the cold snow permeated the fabric to chill her standing foot but she hardly noticed as she struggled against the snow to move towards the shaggy, dishevelled dog.

"You! Stop!" She shrieked as Lait once again bellowed.

The dog turned to her just as she lost balance in a deeper drift and fell down. Not to give up she began to throw snowballs at him.

A stupid idea really, she'd later admit to in hindsight. To her horror, the creature actually did stop and slowly turned to her, baring his fangs. He began to move forwards, haunches raised threateningly he slipped like a snake back through the fence and now there was nothing between him and her. Oh boy, he was even bigger than she had thought.

He might not have been a wild dog at all so much as a coyote the way his pupils were little dots to his bright yellow eyes on his wolf-like face.

After a moment of gawking she did the only thing she could think of, she continued pelting him with snowballs, but now for a different reason. He continued towards her, not to be stalled at all by her attack. The snow harmlessly exploded on him, decomposing to powder.

Her hands, now red and stinging from the cold paused on something hard, a rock. Picking it up she threw with all her might and after a solid 'thunk', the dog recoiled with a whimper before running off.

For a moment she allowed herself to simply sigh in relief, then she dragged herself over to her animals.

The chickens and younger sheep and cows looked ruffled but unharmed. Lait limped over, sniffing her hair almost gratefully.

Rio's head however, was reeling. The cow's front legs were stained in red. "Nononono," she repeated frantically and grabbed at the cow's head comfortingly, "There, there girl. You'll be fine, let me just go get Neil. Neil will know how to fix you up."

Her crutches were a surprising distance away. She sighed and half-pulled, half-crawled back to them. Snow covered her and seemed to find its way down her shirt and up the loose bottoms of her pants. She forced herself back up and clumsily began hopping her long way out of the farm into town, fighting through knee deep snow.

The air was cold, nippy and crisp and her face stung at every breeze. The snow was powdery and flat, such that whisps of wind picked up entire sheets of icey particles that felt like needles on her skin and froze to her eyelashes and hair.

Her leg went from stinging to pulsing and her body was going numb from the cold. No one seemed to be out, all she could hear were her own sniffles and gasps through the wind's whistles.

A gust buffeted her and she ducked down into herself, using all her strength not to be knocked over.

The weather hadn't looked this bad from in her house. It wasn't even snowing! It was just the wind forcing the snow from the ground that seemed to obscure all vision. She couldn't see ahead to any of the village's landmarks nor could she see the paths buried under all the snow. The world was just grey following the setting of the sun.

Her thoughts were slowing as well and she was having difficulty reasoning out her location and destination. So many times the chorus of voices in her mind told her to just stop and sit. She didn't even feel as cold anymore, just tired. So tired she narrated a rather large and heart filled apology to her bed in her head. She hadn't appreciated it enough.

This snow was pretty soft, it would probably crunch right down if she sat on it, poofy like a pillow. Maybe she could stop just a minute to regain her strength. Fighting on one leg through knee-deep snow was simply impossible! She knew better though, she shook that nonsense out of her head and kept moving.

Finally she got her wish and she reached a pathway in town where the snow was compact and well-trodden. For a short distance it was easier. Then, just as Neil's house was in sight, she reached an expansive patch in the road where the ground froze as a smooth and bumpy sheet of ice.

She put one crutch on the surface experimentally and it slipped. The rubber stoppers were hard after all and so almost useless for traction. Indoors they would slide if the floor was even the least bit wet.

The house was so close, she tried to find jagged parts of the ice and patches of snow to place her crutches as she slowly moved along.  
It was only natural though that this was unsuccessful. The crutches slid out in opposite directions and she fell forwards, not before accidentally stepping on her injured leg to catch herself. She rolled on the ground in pain. As it subsided, she reached for her crutches but was surprised to find she was having difficulty moving her fingers to wrap around the grip. Her hands were so cold she couldn't even feel them.

Her eyelids began to droop. And she leaned forward to shelter her hands between her legs and her stomach.

Up ahead she heard a door open and saw the flash of red of Neil's coat. As he began over, his expression quickly changed from bored and apathetic to shocked, "Rio?!"

He broke into a full out sprint as he barreled through the snow and slid onto his knees in front of her on the ice, throwing up some snow with his impact. He grabbed at her as if disbelieving she was real. He started at her shoulders and then clasped her cheeks, her arms, clumsily as if he was trying and failing to get the same info he'd immediately obtain when patting down a cow.

"Neil, there was, and I, then…" Wow, she felt dizzy. "I'm cold." Then added dumbly, "My leg hurts."

"It's okay Rio," He soothed nervously. He picked her up and trudged back to the house.

She sighed in relief, finally away from the wind as he rushed her to the couch and placed her down, propping her leg up with pillows. He said a rather large yet impressive string of curses while doing this and she took the moment to collect her jumbled thoughts.

She'd never seen Neil looked so panicked before. She was so transfixed she forgot her purpose for a moment.

She watched wordlessly as he raced to his bed tearing off the duvet and bringing it back to wrap around her. His franticism reminded her of herself a short while earlier…

It was in that moment that she suddenly remembered. She shook her head and tried to wrestle the blanket off, but he held it tight to her. "No, Neil I- There was a wild dog," she explained. "You have to go now! There was a dog!"

He met her eyes with a serious expression, "It still there?"

She shook her head slowly. "I chased it off," she explained, "But L-Lait's hurt. You have to go see her."

Conflicted he glanced at her, then the door then back to her.

He held her shoulder to ground himself. "But Rio you're.."

"F-f-fine," she said, an unfortunate time to start chattering.

He shook his head, "No you're not. You're freezing!"

"I'll be fine! Just go see Lait!"

Finally he sighed. "I'll be back," he promised and then began to throw on his coat, he paused to look back at her trembling form and rubbed his temple. "Just keep warm okay? Take off anything wet."

She nodded and he kicked on his boots and ran out the door.

She slumped in relief that her duty was over and only then did the cold truly overtake her. It was unbearable, her skin was numb and all her digits were pained and swollen.

She struggled to take off her soaked socks with the palms of hands that wouldn't close and tried to grip at her white and red toes. She wasn't sure what exactly she was warming by doing this, her hands or her feet? It was lucky her cast had a water resistant outside but the soft inner part was still a little wet and there was nothing she could do about that. Reluctantly she ditched the shirt and pants too.

She nestled further into the blanket and could only wait until Neil returned a time later, by then she was shivering uncontrollably.

He threw off his outer layers, face nipped red by the cold, "It's well below freezing out there," He said, rubbing his hands together. "Goddess Rio," He stood by awkwardly watching her shake.

"S-s-so cold," She admitted, an obvious understatement.

"Lait's fine," he told her and she nodded in relief. "It looked a lot worse than it was. I took the animals in and got her all cleaned and bandaged up, it'll probably be like this never happened by the next time you see her." He said.

"That's such a relief," She sighed.

"What happened?" He asked.

She explained as best she could how she saw the dog outside and scared it off. Neil's expression turned unusually dark and she mistakenly thought she had identified his anger, "I only threw the rock at it because I knew it wouldn't severely hurt it and that it was hurting my animals!"

Proving he had a couple more curses in his repertoire, he paced once and then turned on her. "Of course!" He snapped, "But don't you think that was a little dangerous? Are you an idiot?"

If there was one thing Rio hated it was when her intelligence was undermined. "What was I supposed to do?!" She snapped back.

"I don't know Rio, but it was definitely a _stupid _idea to go outside and put yourself in front of a wild dog!"

"He was hurting Lait!" She protested.

"She's a 1400 pound creature with a surprising kicking range, meanwhile, you're next to useless as you are!" He yelled.

"Stop yelling!" She shouted.

"Stop doing stupid things!" He exclaimed right back. "You always keep going off and doing things like this!"

"W-whatever." She said stubbornly and snuggled closer into the duvet, desperate for any extra warmth, no longer marveling at how it smelled just like him. She didn't care, at least for now, she was ticked with him.

He glanced at the wet clothes bundled on the floor and sighed, retrieving a large sweater from one of his drawers. "Put this on," he mumbled dropping it carelessly on her head and plopping down on the other end of the couch, head held restlessly in his hand.

"Better not peek," she said venomously.

"As if I'd want to," he spat back which only managed to infuriate her more. He listened to the rustling and concluded once it had stopped that she was done.

For a while all that could be heard was the chattering of her teeth, something she had tried desperately to silence with no success.

As always happened whenever he lost his temper he quickly cooled down and began to feel bad. Pride and stubbornness caused him to hold his tongue a little longer.

Finally he sighed, "Still cold?"

She just glared and he almost winced. Yes, he knew that look, he had been on the receiving side of that look quite a few times. It was the signature look she had specially for him most of last spring.

She watched him with indignation as he managed a begrudging smile, "Okay, yeah I get it, I'm a jerk," he agreed. "Sorry."

She looked away nestling her legs in tighter. "I can't just turn on and off my angry switch like you can," she protested. "Don't apologize, just let me be mad at you, geez!"

"Rio," he urged quietly. "I'm sorry."

Well when he gave her a face like that… So sad and deflated. That look always managed to take her heart and stomp on it.

Finally, after a moments silence he said again, so quiet it was practically just a breath, "You could have died Rio."

She froze. She hadn't even thought about it that way.

She shook her head, "I didn't really…." She sighed and hugged her knees, rewrapping herself after the blanket slackened in the attempts to finally feel warm.

"I know," he said. "That's why it's so scary. You don't think before you act, ever." In some respects, he seemed even more worn out than her as he sighed. "And you don't seem nearly as freaked out as I am. You could have died Rio." He repeated in a quiet voice. "You can't even walk, you were on the ground, and he was going to attack you. Who knows what would have happened if you didn't find that rock. Even if he just hurt you, you still might have been stuck there and froze before I found you."

He continued to stare at her. She could tell she looked pathetic and small, she couldn't stop quaking like a designer lap dog either. Neil finally sighed, crawling over, and pulling away the blanket. "What are you-!"

Ignoring her protest he tugged her over and rearranged them so he was the one leaning against the armrest as he scooped her between his legs. Then he wrapped the duvet again around them both. She was immediately a _lot_ warmer and it probably wasn't just because of an extra body.

His face brushed against her cheek from behind. Against her frozen flesh, his usual cold body might as well have been a hot water bottle. "Better?" He whispered into her ear.

She sighed in defeat and cuddled into him. "Yeah..."

He held her close, lightly containing her trembles within his arms.

Seeing that their quarrel was definitely over he smiled a little, not that she'd be able to see. "Goddess, look at you! Weren't you supposed to be a plant person? I thought you didn't even _want _animals," he teased.

"I didn't!" She exclaimed bumping her back into his chest, "You forced them on me!"

"Sure," he said, not at all convinced. "You totally love them, admit it."

"Well yeah," she said. "How can you not love something you're raising by hand?"

He rested his chin on her shoulder, rubbing warming circular motions up and down her arms. "I could tell when I started taking care of them for you that they're used to being spoiled. You take good care of them. Lait could stand a good chance already in a higher level of competition. Register intermediate or even advanced next time."

"Would that be fair?" She wondered, "You're the judge and you'll have been taking care of her all season."

"I never show bias!" He scoffed, withdrawing a little.

"Well, I mean. Won't a lot of her progress be because you'll have taken such good care of her?"

He sighed, "Believe me, I make mistakes too. I was stuck at work a little later and couldn't get them in early enough. This accident is on me. I'm spread so thin my care isn't doing them any favours."

She found his hand casually wrapped around her waist and she stroked it soothingly. "No, it was unavoidable. I understand. It's hard when the days are getting so short."

He pulled her in tighter and she finally let herself close her eyes and enjoy this. Neil wasn't a touchy person nor was he generally so talkative. He was so careful in his treatment of her she sometimes felt like an 1800's girl being courted.

Like how he always sat at that chair at her bedside when anyone else that visited would often just hop onto her bed with her, even the well-mannered Iroha.

Honestly, that little space between them was usually so painful. If she was more mobile she'd have bridged it much sooner. In the first week, what made her situation the most difficult to bare was that whenever he did something for her all she ever wanted do was reach out and hold him, but knew she couldn't reach.

This was everything she thought it would be. Again that straw/musky smell engulfed her senses and she marveled at how her back curved perfectly into his chest. She felt safe, she felt secure and even a little bit loved.

"Hey Neil?"

"Yeah?"

"What was the last movie you cried at?" She asked.

It took him a moment to catch up. "Oh, is this your question thing?"

"Yes." Ever since she first brought it up she'd been asking him personal questions every day. He was getting pretty used to it now so she decided to stop playing it careful and start asking more invasive things.

He sighed, "I don't know Rio, I don't remember stuff like that."

She craned her neck to look at him critically, "I don't believe you."

He sighed, "I guess that one where the dog died."

"Which?" She pressed.

"Any of them? Who kills of a dog in a movie it's just wrong." His face was now scarlet. "Or cats. Or those really realistic medieval war movies- those horses did not deserve to be dragged into a human fight. You just see then flail in so much pain and it hurts… People are the worst."

"When was the last time you felt really sad Neil?" She asked.

He bit his lip, "Well, I really do feel guilty when I blow up at you. I guess more than sad though it's disappointment? In myself, I mean. Since I told you I'd be better."

"Well I guess it's a given though since we can both be such hotheads," she admitted. "Okay, but actually sad though- and not about something with me."

"I like your old questions better when you asked stuff like what's your favourite food?" He sighed. "This is embarrassing."

"Come on Neil," She coaxed. "You know so many embarrassing things about me. Make it fair! I mean, remember that time at the night of courage? I still repeatedly hit myself sometimes for being so lame."

"I take it pretty hard whenever an animal I raised passes," he admitted. "It weighs on me for the day."

"Well of course," she scoffed.

"You don't understand, I've raised hundreds," he explained. "They're all in different homes but I hear from their owners. Animals have such short life spans… I get that news a lot."

"I guess that's true," she agreed, then winced as he flicked her forehead.

"So stop doing reckless things! I'm relying on the fact that I'm slightly older than you coupled with the fact that women are supposed to live longer than men." He said jokingly.

"What?" She asked.

He flushed, "You are not going before I do…" then more softly he said, "I'm sick of being alone."

"Neil…" She said in awe.

At his threshold, he glanced at the clock. "So what's your plan for tonight?" He asked several shades gruffer. "We need food, though it's also pretty late if I'm going to get you home we'd have to go now."

She glanced ruefully out the window. She was only starting to feel like she was warming up. It was so cold out there and now it was also dark.

"Or…" He said tentatively.

"Or?" She asked, tilting her head.

The blush on his face was back and even more apparent. "You could stay here and I could take you back in the morning when I go see your animals."

Her mind fizzled. "O-oh." Staying overnight with Neil? Obviously nothing was going to happen because of her leg but still…

"The villagers would talk," she commented.

"The farm work starts earlier than anywhere else opens. Everyone will be asleep."

"Really?" she asked, "You think your next door neighbours Hana and Kosaburo don't wake up at 6?"

"Yeah, okay fine," he agreed and began to shuffle away.

She panicked, "Whoa, whoa, wait!"

He looked at her expectantly and she blushed, "Well, it should be fine."

"Now I'm just confused," he admitted.

"I- I want to stay…" she explained with at least enough humility to feel embarrassed.

He nodded, and didn't press further. "Okay, I'll make dinner."

After eating, they settled into bed awkwardly with a disappointing breadth between them.

"Good night," Rio tried to smile.

"Night," he nodded.

She watched his back and held in a sigh, after they had made so much progress earlier, they were back here. Neil was so hard to read.

* * *

That night Neil was woken by the gentle tapping of frozen ice pellets against the window. Freezing rain, great. He sighed and shuffled forgetting about his bedmate and accidentally kicked her.

Rio stirred, "Neil?"

Her voice was soft and disembodied. Closer to the only source of light than him, she was a black silhouette- or rather a black blob under the sheets. He squinted to try to make out any features on her, was she facing him or facing away?

"Shh, sorry. Go back to sleep." His muttered softly.

"The sky's red." she noted. "Is it already morning?" So, she was facing away then towards the window. His night vision was kicking in though and he was starting to figure that out for himself.

He turned over for a moment to check the electric clock. "No, it's just past two."

He knew what she meant though, a dim red glow illuminated the edges between the curtain and the window. "Ever since the snow started the night sky sometimes looks light red with that street light you installed outside."

She sighed, "Right, it's like that back home as well. It's pitch black at the farm of course."

A little spike pricked in his chest. "Rio," He said, glad his voice was still too slowed from sleep to betray emotion.

She turned over. "Yeah?"

She'd been living here almost a year and still didn't refer to it as home? He shook his head, "Nothing… just, do you like this town?"

She turned over to stare at him, eyes unreadable in the dark. "What's with that? Of course!"

"..Does it feel like home yet?" He asked.

She was quiet for a moment. "… I thought so. Now I don't know."

A deep ache cut right through him, what did _that_ mean? She loved her work, her friends, her animals. What was making her uncomfortable? Not him right?

"That probably sounded confusing," she said. "I meant that, everything's so different here. I've been here a while so I thought I had settled in but it still feels so recent since I first came. Then at the hospital I was suddenly thrust into the real world and I realized…"

"Realized what?" He asked.

"This place feels so disconnected from everything else. Like for a moment suddenly surrounded by the noise and strangers of the city again I almost wondered if any of this was real. I couldn't picture seeing any of the villagers out in the real world. When I saw you, Hana, Allen and Iroha at the hospital it was so weird. It's hard to explain but it feels like I'm flitting between two different worlds and now it feels less real. Like when you go from camp and back."

He was silent and he felt her poke his cheek, "You know?"

"No," He said gruffly. He wasn't sure why her words were so painful but they were.

"Well, what I'm trying to say is, when I can walk again let's go places!"

"Hmm?" He said in interest.

"Let's get out of town now and again and do all sorts of things couples do. We can go to movies and aquariums, zoos and malls. I want to go to so many places with you that it'll soon be hard to not picture you anywhere but at my side no matter where I am."

Oh Goddess, now he just wanted to kiss her. Though he'd been sleeping before so there was no way to know if his breath was good, or if his lips were chapped. Would she take offense if he stole their first kiss in a way that was anything less than perfect? He didn't really know this aspect of girl's mentality that well.

He settled to just stare at her warmly. "Well, your time here might have flown for you but I can now scarcely imagine that old abandoned farm where the neighbouring town's teenagers used to break in for tests of courage anymore. Feels like a lifetime ago."

She was quiet and still. "Rio?" He asked, "You asleep?"

Her voice came back hard. "**No**. How. The. Hell. Could. I. Sleep. After. Hearing. THAT?" She sat up quickly and stared at him, now fully awake. "_Test of courage_? Is my house haunted?!"

He cringed. How could he have let that slip? After everything he did to make sure she'd never hear about that!

"Rio, we have to get up in the morning. Go to bed." He urged, pushing her down onto her pillow. "Sleep," he urged.

She wrestled him and bounced back up after winning, "I might never sleep again! So all those sounds I heard and I always told myself it was the house settling!"

"It was!" He gave in and sat up on his elbows now too, "There's no such thing as ghosts!"

"So what was the ghost story behind my farm?" She asked.

"Made up," he answered. "So it doesn't matter. You're a scientist, you're not supposed to believe in these things!"

"Well I don't know any more!" She exclaimed frantically. "If there can be a Harvest Goddess and things like that in this world why can't there be ghosts?"

He sighed heavily and lay back down. _Religion_, the one thing he hoped she wouldn't think to ask about in her questions. "I don't…" He trailed off, scared of what her reaction might be to this news. There's a lot of things people can forgive about their partners but more often than not religion was a deal breaker. What was Rio going to think? He'd never even admitted this to Hana or Dunhill but he needed to come clean here. "...I don't know if I quite believe in something like that either…" He said quietly.

She didn't move for a moment and he held his breath in regret. Then, she laughed. "Well of course she's real Neil! In fact, before I broke my ankle we were going to have a post-harvest tea party with the sprites to celebrate!"

So paused again. "Oh Goddess… did I stand up the... well, _Goddess_?" She began to fret, "Do you think she knows why I didn't come? I'm sure she does… she's the Goddess after all. Still I didn't even think of it, wow for my sake I really hope I didn't insult her…"

"Uh…" Was all he could say to that.

She shook her head, "Wait don't side-track me Neil! Tell me the story!"

He sighed in relief, she really didn't care. To think he'd been worrying about this since they first started going out. "It's made up so it'll do you no good to hear it!" He said, collecting his thoughts, "Believe me, don't even try to find out behind my back. Tina won't tell you either!"

"She knows?" Rio asked. "Why not?"

"She came to interview me as someone who grew up in town about it a month ago after she found out and I shut it down right away and made sure she'd never breathe a word of it to you," he sighed. "So annoying."

"So that's why she's suddenly so scared of you," Rio said in wonder.

"It's for the best," he explained.

She lay back down reluctantly and he started to fall back asleep. Then she jolted back up. "No actually Neil, I'm going back to that house tomorrow and I'm going to be all alone and unable to walk!" She shook him desperately, "Whatever the story is I'm sure it's not as bad as my imagination!"

"Rio," He moaned. "Forget it, this house is way more haunted than yours is anyway."

"What?" She asked robotically.

"Well I mean, no one's even died in your house before," he explained.

"And someone did here?" She exclaimed.

"Lotsa' someones, it's an old house. Great Grandpa Brown in this very spot." He said.

Rio quaked and he sighed before pulling her down into his arms forcefully. "Sleep," he murmured in her ear. "I'm here with you."

She was going to protest that it was a fat lot of good he could do against a ghost but was surprised that his arms were oddly comforting. His hand brushed the side of her face softy, cupping around the back of her ear. She closed her eyes and couldn't help the smile bubbling up. She wrinkled her nose at the warm sensation staring from her belly and rising to make her head feel dizzy.

She loved the way he touched her, the way his hand ghosted and hovered around her form, occasionally rising to trace another feature of her face. With a degree on concentration as if she were something delicate, something important. No one had ever touched her this way. Maybe it was a trick of the dim light but no one had ever looked at her with the softness his eyes now seemed to hold. She chuckled silently.

His hand halted "What?" He asked defensively.

If someone had told her last season that Neil could be like this, she'd have laughed. If some ethereal being with knowledge of the future popped up the day they were collecting sticks for Rebecca's house, or after one of the countless pointless arguments they used to have, how would she have reacted to know that someday, she'd cherish him, that she'd be filled with this delirious happiness just knowing he was in the same room as her?

"I'm just really really happy." She said honestly ducking her head into the pillow to hide her grin.

There was an outake of air, him probably amused at her response.

"You are not suited to living alone, _so needy_," he teased.

"Maybe I'm not," she agreed, "but I could definitely get used to _this_."

A moment later he was shocked to find she fell asleep. At the speed of clicking an on-and-off switch.

He just pulled her closer and sighed, waiting for sleep to come over him too. It was so late, it was going to be hard to get up tomorrow. She was so unfair… but he couldn't help but agree he could get used to this too.

* * *

**Think of that last bit of pillow talk as bonus material as an apology for my having taken so dang long to write this chapter. Estimate: max 4 chapters left maybe less? We're in the final countdown!**

**JustKohaku- Honestly I re-read certain reveiws and I just feel bad 'cause here I am once again having made you wait forever XD Yeah, that might have been a little mean for poor Iroha, but I really doubted she wanted to talk relationships anyway. Still, she'll be getting some more love in the upcoming chapters, wink wink**

**Psycho Kay- Wow, the last time I updated I hadn't even posted the Chelsea story yet. (lol thanks for the reminder, I just went back to shamelessly advertise it on top XD) Agreed, poor Neil, like a sleeping cat that lets you pet its belly five more times than usual before biting you**

**Sky65- Haha, shamelessly fun to write too when I got into it. Thanks for reading**

**mythicallover906- But you had to wait anyway XD sorry (to disappoint but I apparently don't do that. Haha, omg I'm tired its so late that's it's early) I'm sure that this reponse that my tired self thought was funny is actually a mess bet whatever**

**Cyanote- lol, let's just say, maybe not this chapter, maybe not the next but this playfulness is going to come back. I just love reoccurring jokes after all.**

**Savitron5- Sorry for always making you wait but thanks for always reading anyway! :)**

**CrimsonCrush- I know right! Though Starry Night's coming up, who knows what'll happen ;) Wow, just giving out hints left right and center today**

**Ingvaros- Aw, thank you so much :) There's so many amazing HM fics so that's a pretty big honour. Still, if you haven't yet I would definitely recommend reading some of the older FoMT fanfics- maybe it's just nostalgia since I haven't read them in a long time but some of them border on professional quality. They're what first got me into reading and writing fanfiction**


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